3-039-139 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Lake Scene - Early Morning," by Mr. Wüst, 1871. Engraving of a painting. 'This picture...takes us...to the border of the forest fastness, whence the solemn shades of night are scarce dispersed by the pale rising sun...to the margin of the solitary lake, where the sands, untrodden by man, are disturbed only by slot of deer and prints of wildfowl; when, over the still waters, the ghostly night-mists linger, reluctant to lift, with the dawn, their impenetrable veil from the distant shore...The graceful group of deer...form a most appropriate adjunct to the scene. They have been trotting hard...when, suddenly, their progress is arrested by the lake; they halt, panting, the warm breath driving from their nostrils like smoke in the chill morning air. But the lordly stag will not readily turn aside; he has little objection to a cold bath; his less courageous mate is, however, disposed to draw him away; as for the pretty fawns, already fallen into half playful attitudes, they will follow their dam...The execution of this picture is thoroughly artistic...The work is the joint production of Mr. Wüst, a distinguished American-German artist now painting at Antwerp, and M. J. Maris. The landscape portion is by the former; the animals by the latter'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.