Percy Henry Martindale (1869-1943)
Four Budgerigars in a River Landscape
Percy H. Martindale, Woodchester, Gloucester, England: March 1932
Signed in pencil lower left
Mezzotint on paper, chine appliqué
12.5 x 9.75 inches, chine appliqué
15 x 12 inches, overall
$550

Finely shaded mezzotint print by Percy H. Martindale of four budgerigars (popularly known in Britain as “budgies”) in a river landscape, presumably Australia, where this species of parakeets originates.  The composition combines precise renditions of the birds with a rather decorative and stylized arrangement of the grasses on which they perch.  The print was made with the chine applique process, in which an engraved plate is impressed onto a thin sheet of tissue-like paper backed by a heavier sheet, leaving a rich, crisp, detailed impression.

Percy Henry Martindale was a British mezzotint engraver of portraits and landscapes after British 18th century painters and his contemporaries.  He studied etching under Thomas Mackay and engraving under Joseph Bishop Pratt, and worked for Swan Electric Engraving Co. and T. Agnew & Son's.  Martindale authored Engraving Old and Modern (1928), a book on various etching and engraving printmaking techniques.

Condition:  Generally very good, with the usual overall light toning and wear.  Some minor fraying, soft creases, and cockling to margins of  supporting sheet, easily matted out.

Reference:

“Catalogue 73.” Frances Wakeman Books. http://www.fwbooks.com/cat_73/cat_73c.htm (25 January 2005).

Mackenzie, Ian.  British Prints: Dictionary and Price Guide.  Woodbridge, Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors Club, 1987.  p. 220.