The Cyder Feast

Art Historical Context

"The Cyder Feast" by Edward Calvert is a charming example of early nineteenth-century printmaking preserved in the Art Institute of Chicago’s Prints and Drawings collection. Though undated, the small woodcut—measuring only three by five inches—captures the intimate scale typical of Calvert’s work. Its classification as a reproduction suggests it was created to share the artist’s vision with a wider audience through the reproducible nature of the medium. Woodcut technique, one of the oldest methods of printmaking, involves carving an image into a wooden block so that the raised surfaces hold i...