Henry Willliam Batley (1846-1932) - 1886 Mezzotint Faust

Description

A fascinating mezzotint by Henry William Batley (1846-1932), an artist of the Aesthetic Movement. The scene depicts the actors Ellen Terry and Sir Henry Irving in the Garden scene from a production of Goethe's 'Faust' (1790), performed at the Lyceum Theatre in December 1885. Terry as Margaret (also known as Gretchen) wears a qausi-medieval dress as she moves through flowering branches. The fantastical figure of Sir Henry Irving as Mephistopheles watches from the upper-left corner. An identical impression is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Dated in plate to the upper edge. There is a remarque of a serpent entwining a branch to the lower-left edge. Signed in graphite to the lower-right edge. On chine-colle.

Condition

There are some marks to the surface, including a water stain to the lower-left edge. Otherwise in good condition.

Size

29 x 16.7cm (11.4" x 6.6")
Sheet: 45.5 x 32.5cm (17.9" x 12.8")

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Artist Biography

Henry William Batley (1846-1932) was an etcher, illustrator, painter and designer of wallpapers, textiles, and furniture. He was born in London and any art education he may have received is as yet unknown. Between 1881 and 1894 he exhibited at the Walker Art Gallery, the Royal Academy of Arts, and the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers who elected him a member in 1881. He also showed in Berlin and Munich and a sketch from a gesso panel exhibited by Batley at the Royal Academy in 1891 is illustrated in The Cabinet Maker and Art Furnisher June 1891. The influence of the Aesthetic movement is evident in much of his early work, particularly in his oeuvre as an applied artist and designer. Batley designed the interiors for Doulton's terracotta house exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878 for which he was awarded the cross of the Legion d’Honneur. In 1908 he founded the Guild of Decorators Syndicate in London. Work by Batley is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum.