Size: 17 ½ ”H x 24 ½”W  

Framed size: 29"H x 35"W. Inscription: “F.W. 1866” etched in the plate

Antique 19th-century etching titled The Wayfarers, engraved/etched by Charles Waltner after the celebrated Victorian artist Frederick Walker, A.R.A. 

Frederick Walker (London, 26 May 1840 – 4 June 1875 St Fillans) was a British social realist painter and illustrator. He was described by Sir John Everett Millais as "the greatest artist of the century".

Vincent Van Gogh, who wrote his friend the artist Anthon Van Rappard on 28 March 1882, asking, “Do you know The Wayfarers by Fred Walker? It’s a large etching of a blind old man led by a boy along a frozen road, with a ditch with copse-wood covered with glazed frost, and osiers, on a winter evening. It’s certainly one of the most sublime creations in that genre, with an utterly modern, distinctive sentiment, perhaps less robust than Dürer in his Knight, Death and Devil (plate), but perhaps even more intimate, and certainly as original and sincere.”

This etching is identified by the accompanying Fine Art Trade Guild (formerly Print Sellers Association) Certificate of Authenticity as an Etching, Artist’s Proof, Edition Size 400, published by Thomas Agnew & Son, with a Date of Approval of 1881, Original Price 12 guineas, and Image Size approximately  24 ½”W  x 17 ½" H.

The lower margin bears a blind stamp at left, and the image includes the in-plate initials/date “FW 1866” (which is hidden in the etching on r middle most visible using higher exposure), referencing Frederick Walker’s original composition. There is also a faint pencil signature in the lower right margin, believed to relate to Charles Waltner, though buyer should review photographs for confirmation.

The subject has strong art-historical support. The Metropolitan Museum of Art records Walker’s earlier 1863 etching A Blind Man (The Wayfarers), noting that Walker based it on a painting made outdoors near Haslemere, Surrey, and later exhibited the related work in 1866 as The Wayfarers. The ORCHAR Collection further records that The Wayfarers: after Fred. Walker and etched by Charles Waltner was exhibited at the Dundee Fine Art Exhibition in 1882, priced at £12.12.

 The Wayferers is described in detail in the books below

  1. Clementina Black, Frederick Walker. London, Duckworth and Co., 1902

  2. E.E. Leggatt, Chronological illustrations of the life and work of Frederick Walker, A.R.A., 1915. British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, London, UK

  3. Sir Claude Phillips, Frederick Walker and his Works. London, Seeley and Co., 1897

  4. John George Marks, Life and Letters of Frederick Walker, A.R.A. London, Macmillan and Co., 1896

A strong Victorian narrative print with excellent period associations: Frederick Walker, Charles Waltner, Thomas Agnew & Son, Artist’s Proof status, blind stamp, and documented 19th-century exhibition history.

Framed under glass.  Not examined out of frame. Frame included as a courtesy; value is in the print.