Collecting Antique Prints - Portrait Prints of Eminent Personages - Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin

Affordable portrait prints remain popular. They tell us something about the subject and about how the subject wanted to be depicted.  I regularly have buyers purchase small engraved portraits and sometimes memoirs produced of eminent personages of Great Britain.  These engravings were engraved from authentic pictures in the galleries of the nobility and public collections of the country.  Portraiture is such a vast genre, that there is bound to be something within it that you might like.  It could be some historic family connection, military interest or simply an artistic appreciation for the portrait. 
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​Above:  Portrait of Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin, with facsimile signature and later hand colour.  After Henry Meyer a prominent early 19th-century artist and here engraved by William Holl.  Lieutenant General Sir Rufane Shaw Donkin GCH KCB FRS FRGS, was a British army officer of the Napoleonic era and later Member of Parliament.  Henry Meyer (12 June 1780 - 28 May 1847) was an English portrait painter, more known as a stipple and mezzotint engraver. His first published engravings appeared in the early 19th century. His painting of Charles Lamb was hung in the India Office for many years. He was a founding member of the Society of British Artists, exhibiting many of his works with this association between 1824 and 1830, and acting as its president in 1828/9

Some collectors prefer prints in their original, often uncoloured state, as issued. On the other hand, there are others who follow the argument that these prints as decorative items look more attractive coloured.  The choice is yours to make.  Many people love to collect engraved prints that have been painted with additional watercolour after the engraving was produced. Because the approach of each water colourist in a sense produces a unique 'new work' its fair to say that the addition of colour gives the buyer a very special print or gift. 

Happy Hunting! 
The above engraved print is set within a 10" x 8" mount ready for framing.