Sir George CLAUSEN (1852-1944), “Little Meg”, 1892

Code: 10150

Dimensions:

Acquired by Worcester City Art Gallery & Museum

Sir George CLAUSEN, R.A., R.W.S., R.I. (1852-1944)
"Little Meg" (1892)
Etching
Signed and dated by the artist "G.Clausen FEB 1913" and inscribed "Kersey"(?)

Measures:-
10 cm x 8.2 cm (plate)
17 cm x 12.6 cm (sheet)

Provenance:-
The Estate of Jill Balcon (Mrs C Day-Lewis) [1925-2009]

Clausen's daughter Margaret Mary "Meg" (1884-1946) was seven years old when the artist made this portrait etching of her as a New Year gift for close friends. The first run of prints had an inscription scratched into the plate reading ‘With good wishes for the New Year, George Clausen 1892’. The plate was then subsequently trimmed at the bottom so that a small number of further copies could be issued without what would then have been a passé greeting.

A fine impression of the uninscribed print, with a small amount of ink left on the edges of the plate forming a delicate border at the top and bottom margins. Signed, dated and inscribed by the artist in pencil towards the bottom of the paper sheet.

As above, the original plate for this print was etched when the artist's daughter was seven years old. It is interesting to note, in Clausen's dated inscription of the impression here, that he revisited this image 21 years later. Meg Clausen had by then married the artist, mural painter and illustrator Thomas Derrick (1885–1954) on 7th October 1911; their first child, John (known by his second name "Michael"), was born in 3 January 1915.^[1] We do not yet know the significance of the "1913 FEB" date but it certainly reflects the cycle of life that the daughter depicted as a young girl here was now nearing 30 and newly married.

Literature: Frank Gibson, ‘The Etchings and Lithographs of George Clausen, RA’, The Print Collector’s Quarterly, vol.V I I I 1921, p.215, no.10/I I

Prof. Kenneth McConkey, "George Clausen - The Rustic Image", Fine Art Society, London, 2012, p.44, no. 21

Notes:-
[1] John Michael Derrick (3 January 1915–5 August 1961) became a leading figure in Roman Catholic journalism in the mid-20th-Century.