Lady with the Rooks
1829
Medium
Wood engraving on India paper; third state of three
Dimensions
Image: 1 5/8 in. × 3 in. (4.2 × 7.6 cm) Sheet: 2 3/16 × 3 7/16 in. (5.5 × 8.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1931
Accession Number
31.87.38
Tags
Art Historical Context
Edward Calvert’s *Lady with the Rooks* (1829) is a delicate wood engraving that captures the quiet poetry of the British Romantic era. Created when Calvert was part of the circle known as “the Ancients”—a group of artists deeply influenced by William Blake—the print evokes a mystical, pastoral world in which a solitary woman stands among trees while rooks wheel overhead. Its tiny scale, just over three inches wide, invites intimate viewing and rewards close attention to every carved line. As a wood engraving printed on fine India paper, the work demonstrates the medium’s capacity for crisp de...