The Rising Moon. Samuel Palmer, RWS 1805-81. c. 1855. Etching, printed on india paper on a backing sheet, 5 3/4 x 8 3.4 inches (14.5 x 22.1 cm); sheet 8 1/2 x 11 1/4 inches (21.5 x 28.4 cm). The seventh state (of nine), as published in Etchings for the Art Union of London by the Etching Club, 1857 plate 10. Provenance: Private Collection by descent; bought from The Fine Art Society in the nineteenth century.
“This work marks a radical departure from the small plates Palmer had previously etched. It is almost certainly the ‘new etching’ he presented to the Etching Club on 29 October 1855, and its scale and landscape format would be the standard for his future printmaking practice.
An English village nestles in a valley with a screen of cypress trees above and a herd of sheep in the foreground, dwar'ng the shepherd behind, his crook over his shoulder. Elements of Shoreham, Devon, Wales, Italy and perhaps memories of Margate, combine in a harmony of pastoral calm.” — Gordon Cooke
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Reference
Cooke, Gordon. Samuel Palmer, His Friends, and Followers.Exhibition Catalogue. London: The Fine Art Society, 2012. No. 23.
Lister, Raymond. Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer. Cambridge, 1988. pp. 242-43, no. E7 vii/IX.
Last modified 25 May 2014