Edwin Edwards,
British 1823-1879,

Between the Poplars, Sunbury, (Fantin in the foreground), 1861;

etching on wove paper,
signed and dated 61 within the plate,
inscribed in pencil verso,
sheet: 16 x 25 cm, 

Note: together with thirteen further etchings by the same artist, the first seven of which are of views along the Thames, as follows: Sunbury, 1861; Lilly Falls, Sunbury, 1861; Sunbury Back Water; The Weir, Sunbury, 1861; Under the Willows, Maple Durham, 1861; Three Willows, Maple Durham Weir on the Thames, 1861; Tow Path, Sunbury, 1861; Upper Pool from Cherry Garden Pier, 1869; Hampton Court Palace from the Garden, 1862; Poplars at Twickenham with Charles Leland, July 13 70; Oxford, 1866; Gravesend; Willow, 1864; 

various sizes, all inscribed and dated in pencil on the reverse or on the recto, four signed and dated, two signed with monogram and three inscribed, all within the plate, (14) (unframed) 

Note: originally a lawyer with a passion for music and the arts, Edwards was inspired to become an artist on meeting Henri Fantin-Latour in Paris. Fantin introduced him to James McNeil Whistler and Alphonse Legros, the latter teaching him to etch in the winter of 1860. The following year, he installed a press at his home at Sunbury-on-Thames and in August the four friends were joined by Francis Seymour Haden for a sketching trip on the river. The results included Edwards’s etching Molesley Lock (Whistler on the Gate) and Whistler’s The Thames (Sketching no. 1). Whistler came to hold Edwards’s work in high regard, writing in a letter of May, 1863, ‘I really cannot help writing just to tell you how intensly (sic) pleased I am with your work in the Academy. Your etchings and your painting I think most highly of…  The etchings are exquisite….’ Throughout the 1860/70s the house at Sunbury became the venue for musical soirees and the gatherings of a lively group of Anglo/French painters, with Edwards meeting Monet when the latter came to London to avoid the Franco-Prussian war. During this time Edwards’s wife, Ruth, became an accomplished printer and it is probable that she printed and titled the present group.