Man and Woman of North Holland, Antique Ackermann Costume Print, 1817

An original antique engraving, colored by hand, from Miss Semple's The Costume of the Netherlands, lettered "Man & Woman of North Holland". An older man in a black three cornered hat and a long dark gray coat stands talking to a woman, pointing with one finger, two large round silver buttons at his waist, with white stockings and buckled shoes. The woman is seen from behind under a very wide straw hat trimmed in pink, a white veil of cloth falling from it over her shoulders. Her pink jacket is sprigged with small flowers, a white apron is tied at her waist and a blue skirt hangs below. In the distance a small sailing boat lies on the water between groups of trees.

The caption is engraved in script below the image as "Man & Woman of North Holland", and beneath it is the publisher's imprint "Published Jan.y 1-1817. at R. Ackermann's, 101 Strand." No artist's or engraver's name is lettered on the plate; the drawings for the series are credited to Miss Semple on the title of the work.

The plate belongs to The Costume of the Netherlands, published in 1817 at Rudolph Ackermann's Repository of Arts, 101 Strand, London. The title of the work describes it as displayed in thirty colored engravings after drawings from nature by Miss Semple, with descriptions in English and French. Its figures cover the Dutch provinces, Flanders and Brabant, and the French border country around Valenciennes, each shown in everyday working or market dress rather than in formal portraiture. Ackermann issued many of the best known illustrated books of Regency London, and the plates of this work were colored by hand after printing.

The figure sits well in a simple narrow frame with a wide mount, and plates from the same work make a coherent group on one wall.

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