Description
Louis Wain-style Comical Cat Sketch | Ink | 1901
This charming little ink sketch is a rare and touching example of a forgotten art: the hand-drawn postcard. Here a wild moggy, drawn in a style very reminiscent of Louis Wain’s early work, scampers wide-eyed past a smashing ink bottle; perhaps this depicts an incident recently experienced by the artist? To the right of the image is the date – March 16th 1901 – and a personal dedication: With love from J.P.
On the reverse of the card (though hidden by the under-mount: see product images for a picture taken prior to mounting) is the hand-written address and a green halfpenny Queen Victoria stamp, cancelled with a postmark for Chelmsford, March 16 1901. The recipient was Miss Pansy Somerville, Springfield Court, Chelmsford. 1901 census records confirm a Pansy Somerville in Essex in that year, listing her as 15 years old and an American-born British Subject; the new owner might like to trace this further.
The card has been close-mounted to make a wonderful display piece, but in this case we have secured it with acid-free archival corners so that no adhesive at all touches the card. Keeping the date and image fully visible has meant that the clear corners can be fractionally seen in the upper right and left corners beyond the mount if you look closely, but we considered this to be an acceptable compromise for conservation reasons; the reflection of the camera flash makes the archival corners much more noticeable on the website pictures than they are to the naked eye.
This artwork is ready to give as a gift or place into your choice of 8″ x 10″ frame. As with all original art from Thrilled Kitty, this piece is guaranteed to be an original work and not a copy, print, or reproduction.
Condition Report: An original antique artwork in good condition. Bears some smudges and surface marks from the passage of time but displays well. No foxing evident, but there are visible diagonal bands of slight tanning and creasing in each corner, symmetrical and about 5mm wide, most likely from the card being secured into an album.
Type: Original artwork, dated and initialled by artist (Explain this)
Medium: Ink on card
Mount & Under-mount Materials: Daler-Rowney Poster Black
Framed or Unframed: Unframed (See our Framing Guide for help)
Frame Size Required: 8 inches x 10 inches (20.5 cm x 25.5 cm approx.)
Orientation (Portrait or Landscape): Landscape
