Milkman of Rotterdam with his Yoke, Antique Ackermann Print, 1817

An original antique hand colored engraving after Miss Semple, lettered "Milkman of Rotterdam.", from The Costume of the Netherlands published by Rudolph Ackermann in London in 1817. A young milkman walks straight toward the viewer under a pale blue gray yoke with yellow tipped ends, padded at the shoulders, from which two lidded wooden pails with metal handles hang on cords. He wears a black wide brimmed hat, a white collar, a long dark brown black coat buttoned down the front, matching breeches tied at the knee with ribbons, pale blue stockings and black shoes with silver buckles.

The engraved caption below the image reads "Milkman of Rotterdam." and beneath it runs the imprint "Published 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.