Orpheus and Eurydice

The present print was taken from the oil painting, by G.F Watts, in the possession of the Rt. Hon Percy Wyndham, in 1939. Orpheus has been allowed to reclaim Eurydice from Hades, with the condition that he does not look on her until she reaches the upper world again; he has been unable to resist one glance and tries in vain to hold her back, clasping her with his right hand and holding his lyre in his left hand. Frank Short wrote of the print 'This was rather an unusual mezzotint, worked with different grounding tools and printed with thinner ink than usual. The edition was sold out at once and proofs used to sell later at anything up to 50....It was a great pleasure, and an education to go over the working proofs with G.F. Watts. This was the plate which was awarded a gold medal in the Exposition Universelle at Paris in 1889.' (see M. Hardie, op. cit.).