This is a fine original pencil signed etching by Hedley Fitton (1859 - 1929)
It is from a limited edition of only 100 impressions.
It is signed in pencil lower right.
Hedley Fitton was born in 1859 in Manchester, England. During the early part of his life, he worked as an editor and illustrator for The Daily Chronicle in his home town of Manchester.
He specialized in architectural etchings and these were always full of meticulous attention to detail. The subjects are crumbling buildings, historic street scenes, and iconic buildings - his subjects are found in London, Florence, Edinburgh, and Paris.
This fine and very atmospheric etching depicts the Bell Tower of the Saint Etienne Church in the French City of Beauvais - some 60 kilometers north of Paris. These crumbling Gothic edifices were subjects which Fitton excelled at. He has shown the old wooden bell tower right at the top of the building - flanked by a tall turret-capped tower.
It is a very atmospheric image with lots of intricate detail and in rich velvety drypoint. The tower is blanched in sunlight - and dark shadows containing the buildings right and left - to give a size of scale - Fitton has added little groups of figures in the foreground. An exceptional impression in excellent antique condition - with no condition issues. It is still in its original frame and still nice and clean - and you can just hang it straight on your wall.
It forms a fantastic pendant with Fitton's etching Casino di Mobile in Siena - which is also on offer in my online shop. Both were framed at the John Mathieson's celebrated art dealer's shop in Edinburgh - and came from the collection of John Loudon. The frames are of matching wood and dimensions.
The frame size is 68 x 50 cm. The platemark is 45 x 27 cm
The etching is pencil signed below the image - in the right hand margin.
There is an impression of this subject in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.