Hungry Birds, from "The Graphic" Christmas Number

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Bauerle

December 2, 1882 · Color wood engraving · Drawings and Prints

Born in Germany, Bauerle emigrated to Ohio, learned to engrave from an uncle in Cincinnati, then returned to Stuttgart to pursue a career as a children's portraitist and genre painter (his patrons included Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Queen Victoria, Edward Prince of Wales). The present work demonstrates his ability to portray children and taste for sentiment, using a punning title to connect the youngsters eating bread and birds seen through the window. "The Graphic" chose the subject for one of the color-printed wood engravings they published annually as a premium for readers at Christmas, this example issued in 1882. The periodical had been founded in 1869 by William Luson Thomas, a successful wood engraver, publisher and social reformer, and was intended to rival the "Illustrated London News."

Artist

Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Bauerle

Date

December 2, 1882

Medium

Color wood engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Donato Esposito, 2015