Rare pencil sketch of a rooster by Edwin Forbes, signed, c. 1870

Rare pencil sketch of a rooster by Edwin Forbes, signed, c. 1870

$1,500.00
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Rare pencil sketch of a rooster by Edwin Forbes, signed, c. 1870

Rare pencil sketch of a rooster by Edwin Forbes, signed, c. 1870

$1,500.00

Rare, signed pencil sketch of a rooster by Edwin Forbes.

Actual print measures 7 ¼ x 6

Presentation matting measures 19 ¼ x 11 ¼

We know of no other example of this image.

Edwin Austin Forbes (1839 – March 6, 1895) was an American painter, etcher, and illustrator known especially for his Civil War illustrations and later landscape work. He was born in New York City and studied under the artist Arthur Tait, initially focusing on animals and landscapes.

·         During the American Civil War, he became a “special artist” for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, sketching scenes from the field—battles, soldiers’ daily lives, camps, and more—with the Union Army.

·         After the war, he published collections of his wartime drawings and etchings, like Life Studies of the Great Army (1876) and Thirty Years After: An Artist’s Story of the Great War (1890

·         He also returned to landscapes, cattle scenes, and other rural subjects, and the sketch offered here is likely from that period..

·         In 1877 he was made an honorary member of the London Etching Club.

·         He spent much of his later life in Brooklyn, New York, and was buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.

·         An interesting lesser-known fact: he is sometimes credited with inventing a type of horse-racing starting gate.