Invitation to a Benefit Dinner from Hubert von Herkomer to Thomas Agnew

Sir Hubert von Herkomer

1877–78 · Lithograph with lettering in pen and ink · Drawings and Prints

Herkomer designed this lithographed invitation for an annual London dinner that raised funds for the Artists' General Benevolent Institution for the Relief of Distressed Artists, Their Widows and Orphans. The vignette represents the tragic death of an artist attended by two young children, with a female figure symbolizing Painting sitting by the bedside. Below, Herkomer invites the London art dealer Thomas Agnew to attend the dinner as his guest, then offers him first refusal on a painting ready for the Royal Academy's annual summer exhibition. The work that Herkomer calls "an English subject" must have been "Eventide: A Scene in the Westminster Union," which he showed at the Academy in 1878.

Artist

Sir Hubert von Herkomer

Date

1877–78

Medium

Lithograph with lettering in pen and ink

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Harry G. Friedman, 1964