Beschreibung:

Embarkation of Henry VIII at Dover. 27 x 49 ins., (69 x 104 cms.) The copper plate was created by James Basire the engraver for the Society of Antiquaries. In 1771. The painter Edward Edwards made a reduced drawing from a vast painting of this scene commissioned by Henry VIII some 200 years earlier. James Besire and his studio colleagues then engraved the image on copper plate from the drawing, which took two years. Excitingly it is almost certain that William Blake took part in the execution of the plate. He was a member of Besire's studio and an exceptionally gifted engraver. At the time it was the largest engraving made in the eighteenth century, so much so, special hand made paper known as Antiquarian had to be made. In 1774 a first edition of 400 was printed and distributed to the members of the Society. The plates were kept at the Society's home in Burlington House, where they stayed forgotten for two hundred years. They came to light again in 1988 with an edition produced to coincide with an exhibition of the newly restored original painting at Hampton Court. The painting was designed to be a spectacular and sumptuous display of Tudor magnificence and power, and a 'tour de force' of the engraver's art. The 1988 edition was hoping to produce 400 copies, but in fact only about 50 were completed, it is thus rather rare. The five hundredth anniversary of the original 1520 painting is almost upon us; now would be a good time to invest in such a magnificent engraving.