Otter Hunting
1671
Medium
etching
Dimensions
229; 168
About this artwork
Purchased with the support of the F.G. Waller-Fonds
Art Historical Context
Richard Gaywood's *Otter Hunting* (1671) is a lively etching capturing the thrill of a traditional English country pursuit. Measuring 168mm by 229mm, this intimate print depicts hunters and hounds in spirited action along a riverbank, reflecting the era's fascination with field sports among the gentry. Gaywood, a prominent 17th-century English engraver active in London, was renowned for his reproductive prints that brought popular scenes to a wider audience through affordable multiples. Etching, the medium here, was a revolutionary intaglio technique in Gaywood's time, where acid etched fine ...
About the Artist
Richard Gaywood · 1620–1680
Richard Gaywood (fl. 1650–1680) was an English engraver and printmaker who became the most prolific etcher working for the London print trade during the tumultuous years between the English Civil Wars and the Restoration. A pupil of the renowned Wenceslaus Hollar, Gaywood mastered his teacher's distinctive style while developing a thriving practice creating portraits and book frontispieces for Lon...