Eric Gill - Bernadette Ora Pro Nobis

One of 50 wood-engravings on wove (China) paper. Sheet size 17cm x 15cm approx, image size 12cm x 10cm approx, hinge-mounted.

Numbered 13/50 lower left, signed "Eric G" lower right.

Excellent clean condition, no discernible spotting, e.g.

Auction-house labels to verso of the mounting (25cm x 23cm approx). 

A lovely piece, the title translates (from the Latin) as (Saint) "Bernadette, pray for us". The artist became a Roman Catholic in 1913 and remained so for the rest of his life. Described in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as "the greatest artist-craftsman of the twentieth century" his reputation has rightly taken a bit of a battering since the revelations about his abusive behaviours at home but his skills remain admired.