Artist: JOHN CHARLTON (British, 1849 - 1917)
Title: A Family Meeting in the Study
Medium: Original Antique Copper Engraving - 1884
Signature: Signed by the Artist in the plate, as shown
Edition: Publication believed to be 5000
Size: 16 x 12 inches (total paper)
Printer: William Luson Thomas (British, 1830 - 1900)
Publisher: Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. at The Graphic
Note: The influence of The Graphic within the art world was immense; its many admirers included Vincent van Gogh and Hubert von Herkomer.
Provenance: Hatay Stratton Fine Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
About the Artist: Born in Bamburgh, Northumberland in 1849, John Charlton studied at the Newcastle School of Art and at South Kensington. An English painter and illustrator of historical and especially battle scenes, mainly from history contrmporary to him. Charlton specialized in sporting and military subjects and was commissioned by Queen Victoria to paint her arrival at St. Paul's Cathedral for the Diamond Jubilee Service in 1899.
The late 1870s and 1880s were a very busy time for British and colonial forces as they tried to consolidate colonial hold over possessions in northern and southern Africa. Many of the illustrations appearing in The Graphic depicting these events came from the hand of Charlton, especially during the Egyptian Campaign of 1882, when he had to draw-up many of the eye-witness sketches posted to the paper by its 'special artists' as well as soldiers.