Publisher/Manufacturer: David Esslemont Series title: Luke Clennell: Bewick Apprentice (plate 8)
1981 Wood engraving in black, with letterpress in grey, on white BFK Rives Velin Cuve paper
53 x 72 mm. Purchase: David Esslemont 1991 Funding support: Catherine Lewis Trust
Illustration from 'Luke Clennell: Bewick Apprentice' (1981), a book printed by David Esslemont from the original wood blocks engraved by Luke Clennell. The original wood block was used to illustrate Solomon Hodgson's 'The Hive of Ancient and Modern Literature', published in Newcastle (1806? or 1799?). The text for the chapter 'The History of the Empress Catherine' (p241) below the illustration reads:
'CATHERINA Alexowna, born near Derpat, a little city in Livonia, was heir to no other inheritance than the virtues and frugality of her parents. Her father being dead, she lived with her aged mother, in their cottage covered with straw; and both, though very poor, were very contented. Here, retired from the gaze of the world, by the labour of her hands, she supported her parent, who was now incapable of supporting herself. While Catherina spun, the old woman would sit by, and read some book of devotion; thus when the fatigues of the day were over, both would sit down contentedly by their fire-side, and enjoy the frugal meal with vacant festivity.'
Book illustration of Empress Catherina (1729-96) from 'Luke Clennell: Bewick Apprentice'; foreground, on the left, a woman, wearing a headscarf and spectacles, reads from a book whilst seated on a bench, on the right, a young Catherina, wearing an elegant dress, works at a spinning wheel; middleground, a tree; background; a rustic cottage. Engraved border
