Children Bird-nesting [and] Children Nutting

London: Published by John Raphael Smith, 1789. A pair of mezzotints with added hand colour. Both in good condition (Child Bird-nesting) has some worm damage in the margins, and (Children Nutting) has a few tears in margins one of which extends into the image. Image size: 17 1/4 x 21 5/8 inches. A pair of beautiful images after Morland, the master of English genre painting.

George Morland was one of the most successful genre painters of his time, creating, during his industrious career, some of England's most cherished paintings. At an early age Morland displayed his artistic genius, he learned to paint at three and exhibited his first work at the Royal Academy at the mere age of ten. He was a prodigious painter, producing more than 4000 paintings during the entirety of his career, and sometimes painting two or three works in a day. His beautiful idealistic scenes were a favorite source of inspiration for contemporary engravers, and as many as 250 separate engravings were done of his paintings during his lifetime. His brother-in-law, William Ward, engraved a great number of his paintings reproducing in print his endearing paintings of English country life. Ward's engravings after Morland are some of the most beautiful prints of the period; they combine fine technical skill and inspired artistic imagination to create enduring images that speak of the taste and beauty of the age.