Goldfinch

18.5 x 12.0 cm (7.3 x 4.8 inches).

This colored engraving was created by The Reverend Francis Orpen Morris and was printed by Groombridge and Sons of London in 1887. The Reverend Francis Orpen Morris was well known for his passion for natural history and devoted his leisure time to studying the birds, butterflies and moths of Britain.

It was printed using wood engraving and has original hand finished coloring. They were printed from separate wood blocks for each color, with additional dabs of hand coloring where required. First, an accurate painting was produced. Then a wooden block was carved to leave high lines in the wood to pick up the ink. Different blocks were made for different colors in the print. Producing the wooden print blocks required a great deal of skill and time, so the wood used had to be very hard and fine grained otherwise the blocks wore out too quickly. Woods such as pear were, therefore, preferred.

The paper is good quality and blank on the reverse side. It is in excellent condition.

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