This is a beautiful and very atmospheric print by the English artist and printmaker, A.R. Blundell. It is a very rich mezzotint print - which shows a dark image of Cheddar Gorge. This dramatic site is a limestone gorge, located in the Mendip Hills, near the village of Cheddar in Somerset.
The print is signed in the bottom left-hand margin with the artist's name in pencil - and to the right, it has the title Cheddar Gorge - Sunset. It also has a publisher's blind stamp for the publisher, Ernest Herbert Whydale, as photographed.
Dimensions: Frame is 38.5 x 35 cm. The image size is 25 x 25 cm.
A mezzotint (black manner print) is a method of engraving on a metal plate to create soft and velvety dark tones. The plate would have been completely roughened up with a tool called a rocker. This would have covered the whole of the copper plate with a coating of little black dots which would have held ink. If the prepared plate was printed - it would print totally black. Tones would be worked from dark to light - by the printmaker using a burnisher tool to smooth relevant areas of the plate. The burnished areas would hold less ink and print as lighter shades.
Mezzotints were very popular in the late 18th / early 19th Century. There was a renewed interest in the medium in the early 20th Century.
BIOGRAPHY: Alfred Richard Blundell (1883-1968) was born in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
He was a celebrated painter, etcher, and glass engraver, and was also employed as an Art Master at the local Suffolk school - Culford.
His etchings are powerful and his use of mezzotint is commanding. He travelled widely in Europe and his work features in many prestigious public and private collections.
This fine original print has just been reframed and has a new cream-coloured window mount - and a simple black frame. The print is in fantastic condition with no damages - and is beautifully presented and ready for you to hang on your wall.