Etched invitation to private viewing by Hubert von Herkomer with pen and ink inscription to The Hon W Littleton & friends

Herkomer created this hand inscribed etching in 1881 as a personalised invitation to a private viewing of his newly completed works on show at Goupil & Co. Galleries on the Strand, London. Herkomer is known to have produced a handful of such invitations for his solo exhibitions. The figure of the sailor derives from Herkomer’s painting Missing (1880); one of the headline works mentioned in the invitation. This invitation will sit alongside our current holdings of Herkomer’s works and provide an insight into the artist’s practice of creating etched invitations using elements of his works.