The Black Boy

1826

Not on view

Geddes here depicts a bronze statuette of Cupid holding a shell over his head, with a pocket watch placed in the shell, its chain hanging down at left. A signet ring rests below, next to the small plinth on which the statue stands. The artist owned this statuette and it was described in his sale catalogue (April 1845, lot 720) as "Cupid supporting a shell--very elegant bronze, of exquisite cinquecento work."

Geddes one of the small number who helped to revive British interest in artistic etching during the first quater of the nineteenth century. Others who did so were David Wilkie, who like Geddes was Scottish, and members of the Norwich School, notably John Sell Cotman.

Artwork Details

Title: The Black Boy
Artist: Andrew Geddes (British, Edinburgh, Scotland 1783–1844 London)
Date: 1826
Medium: Etching and drypoint; third state of three
Dimensions: Plate: 7 1/16 × 5 1/2 in. (18 × 14 cm)
Sheet: 17 1/8 in. × 12 in. (43.5 × 30.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1935
Object Number: 35.91.3
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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