The Sheep of this Pasture
n.d.
Medium
Engraving on paper
Dimensions
Image: 4.1 × 7.8 cm (1 5/8 × 3 1/8 in.); Plate: 4.3 × 8 cm (1 3/4 × 3 3/16 in.); Sheet: 7.2 × 10.8 cm (2 7/8 × 4 5/16 in.)
Classification
wood engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4683
Art Historical Context
Edward Calvert’s “The Sheep of this Pasture” is a delicate wood engraving that captures the artist’s lifelong fascination with pastoral serenity. Created on a tiny plate measuring just over four centimeters high, the print invites close, intimate viewing. Calvert, a member of the early nineteenth-century group known as the Ancients, worked in the visionary spirit of William Blake, favoring subjects drawn from nature and spiritual harmony rather than grand historical narratives. Wood engraving allowed Calvert to achieve luminous contrasts and minute detail within a compact format. The techniqu...