Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Print of the Day: A Scrap of Columbine, 1890

Scrap, 1890
The Victoria & Albert Museum


Scraps, in the early 19th century and well into the Twentieth Century, were enthusiastically collected by people from all walks of life.  These die-cut and often hand-colored and embossed prints were kept in albums or used to adorn a variety of decorative arts.

Scraps depicted a huge range of subjects from popular figures to flowers.  This scrap was one of a set of pantomime characters, with Harlequin and Clown.  It depicts a young female dancer who is almost certainly meant to represent Columbine.  She is shown balancing on her left leg, her left hand held up to her face.  She wears a multicolored tutu, a low-necked white ruff and a wreath of flowers in her chestnut hair.  It dates to about 1890 and was printed by Siegmund Hildesheimer & Co.



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