Size: Frame 59 x 83 cm, print image 46.5 x 69.5 cm (18.5 x 27.5 inches)

Condition: Excellent condition, even age toning, no tears or creases, mounts and frame new.

This print is a superb example of Axel Haig's architectural prints at their peak.  His prints were designed to be hung in middle class homes across Europe as works of art ranking with oil paintings and watercolours.  They were designed to be viewed in a grand setting, and were reproduced in Art Journals of the period.

The scene is the cathedral of Amiens, France, on confirmation day.  The participants in their veils merge into a sea of white, while light streams in above them from the South transept (or is it supposed ot imply the Holy Spirit?).

The etching was published in an edition of 450, and was originally priced at 8 guineas. It is signed in the plate lower left, with the date, and also in pencil lower right by the artist.

Axel Herman Haig (1835-1921) was dubbed in his lifetime "The Piranesi of the Gothic Revival" on account of his ability to mix fantasy and realism in his architectural prints.  Born in Sweden, he lived most of his life in England, and learnt his craft as an architect's draughtsman. He came to etching only after he has already established himself in that career and as a watercolourist, but it was his etching which gained him international fame and financial success. In the early to mid 20th century, his reputation (and the value of his works) waned, but today his star is rising again, deservedly so.