James Smetham: The Mandolin, 1866

James Smetham (1821-1881) was an English Pre-Raphaelite and engraver, a follower of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. He studied at the Royal Academy, and worked in a range of genres including religious and literary themes as well as portraiture; but he is perhaps best known as a landscape painter. His work has a visionary quality, reminiscent of William Blake, John Linnell, and Samuel Palmer. He was also an essayist and art critic. The Mandolin is considered his masterpiece, and bears all the hallmarks of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The model is Ellen Smith, who also sat for Rossetti, and the lute also appears in Rossetti's Christmas Carol of 1867.

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HC-773-P3: card size 7" x 5" (178mm x 127mm)