Group at the Fair at Rotterdam, Antique Ackermann Costume Print, 1817

An original antique hand colored engraving after Miss Semple, lettered "Group at the Fair at Rotterdam.", from The Costume of the Netherlands published by Rudolph Ackermann in London in 1817. A man seen from behind, in a black broad brimmed hat, dark gray coat and breeches and pale blue stockings, leans over a stall table set with plates of sliced green food and reaches out with a fork. Behind the table a young woman in a large pale blue and white hat over a white cap, gold ear ornaments, a white kerchief and a pink jacket serves him. Beside her stands a second young woman with gold ear ornaments and a red bead necklace, in a white cap and long white apron with a flowered shawl, holding a baby wrapped in pink.

The engraved caption below the image reads "Group at the Fair at Rotterdam." and beneath it runs the imprint "Publish'd Jan.y 1, 1817, at R. Ackermann's, 101 Strand.". The plate carries no engraver's signature, and the drawings for the whole series are credited on the title page to Miss Semple.

The plate belongs to The Costume of the Netherlands, published in London in 1817 by Rudolph Ackermann at his Repository of Arts, 101 Strand. The title page announces thirty colored engravings after drawings from nature by Miss Semple, with descriptions in English and French, and the plates carry imprints dated in the course of 1817. Each figure or group is set on a small washed patch of ground against the open paper, with the caption engraved in a copperplate script below. Ackermann (1764 to 1834), a German born publisher and print seller working in London, issued many illustrated books with hand colored plates, as well as the periodical The Repository of Arts.

A single plate suits a narrow frame with a generous mat, and several plates from the series hang well together as a group of Dutch street and household scenes.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.