Waiting for the Verdict, engraved by W.H. Simmons

Catalogue entry

T03616 WAITING FOR THE VERDICT 1866

Mezzotint 21 13/16 × 27 1/2 (555 × 700) on India paper laid on wove paper 25 3/4 × 31 3/16 (655 × 792); plate-mark 25 5/16 × 29 7/8 (644 × 786)
Engraved inscription ‘ASolomon 1857’ (initials in monogram) b.l. of image; etched inscription ‘ London Published Nov^r 1^st 1862, by Henry Graves & C^o the Proprietors Publishers to the Queen, 6 Pall Mall ’ above image t.r.
Presented anonymously by the former owner of T03614–15, 1982

For discussion of the subjects of T03616-T03616, see the entries on the original paintings by Abraham Solomon, T03614-T03615.

Despite the inscription on T03616 it seems clear that these prints were both published together on 1 January 1866. According to the declaration made by the publisher, Henry Graves, to the Printsellers' Association on 15 January of that year, they were issued in the following quantities: 200 Artist's Proofs, priced at 8 guineas each; 25 Presentation Proofs 100 Proofs before Letters at 6 guineas each and 100 Proofs; with Letters at 4 guineas each. Ordinary prints, run off according to demand, were priced at 2 guineas each (An Alphabetical List of Engravings Declared at the Office of the Printsellers' Association, London, 1847–1891, 1892). Simmons exhibited copies of both engraving at the Royal Academy in 1866 (831, 832) and such was the popularity of ‘Waiting for the Verdict’ that, in the words of one writer in 1919, copies of the print could, even at that late date, ‘still be seen in cottage homes and inns’ (G.C. Williamson, Murray Marks and his Friends, 1919, p.156).

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1982-84: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1986

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