Edward Francis Burney, Illustration for a Comic Play or Novel

Lot description

(British, 1760-1848) An actor in a landscape, Inscribed in pencil below scene "Now this is beautiful___ow fresh the hair is ow rewiving____ow inwigorating ow wery pretty this is. Viol: Teasing made easy Act 1", pencil, ink and watercolor wash on paper, 5 1/8 x 7-7/8 in.; modern black frame, 14-3/4 x 12 x 1 in. Note: Drawing showing a comical, corpulent gentleman in front of door with sign above with "MEN TRAPS" on it. Born near Worcester, Burney was sent at age 16 to London and there admitted to the Royal Academy schools, where he gained the friendship of Sir Joshua Reynolds. He exhibited 19 pictures, mostly portraits, at the Academy between 1780-1803. His professional output consisted largely of book illustrations, which were both charming and graceful and his clever designs were often used to decorate women's trifles, such as sewing boxes. However, he is remembered primarily as a comic master, although it was not until around 1810 that he began to work in this mode, which reached its culmination in the 1820s, from which period this drawing most likely dates.