Could this picture be ordered during the war from the Sphere mag

[arantxa]

I know you can buy a modern print but this looks quite old.    Sad picture 

[kenf48]

It appeared in the Christmas number, prints were later sold by the magazine

 

 

 

Matania was the house artist and prints were sold by the magazine at around 5 shillings each here is a list from November 1917, I guess the above was in a later list.

More famous now is his 'Goodbye Old Man'of a soldier comforting his dying horse, though I recall being inspired by his portrait of Cornwell in a book my father had when I was very young.

 

See also

https://blog.maryevans.com/illustration/

 

Images courtesy of BNA on Find My Past

 

[kenf48]

And the print appears for sale on a list in   the edition dated 9 March 1917. So the short answer is 'yes' it could be ordered. Not only the print but it looks to me that the frame is of the period too rather than a later edition.

 

 

[arantxa]

thank you...when i purchased it online from an auction house  from the picture it looked a4 not 36 inches plus !!!!`

[Matlock1418]

On 15/07/2020 at 08:43, kenf48 said:

a soldier comforting his dying horse

Overall his work seems well executed and evocative, and at times very emotive too.

Well knowing the bond between man and horse  [and also man and dog too for that matter]

I am struggling to keep a stiff upper lip.

:-( M

[arantxa]

it is..but the fact it weighs neatly 4 kg may stop any quibble !!

[Guest]

I have had the example of a local casualty,Harold Bertram Pitts, CSM with the HAC kiled during the costly and wasteful attack at Hooge in May 1915. He had a few weeks before had some drawings published in "Illustrated War News" But no trace,other than IWN, that they were ever separately printed off-even though the publishers would have had the printers' blocks for it. I suspect from the prints of yesteryear that I have seen, that prints would tend to be in larger format (Our A3 plus), as the same blocks could be used but only on better quality paper.

   The classic story of prints advertised for sale is,apocryphally or otherwise, the advert that said "Send One Guinea and receive a splendid steel-engraved portrait of His Majesty King George V by a  Royal Academician. In due course, an empty envelope would arrive backthrough the post and if the recipient complained, they would be told that the steel-engraved portrait of the King was that  printed on the stamp on the front of the envelope. Who says scamming is something new!!

[arantxa]

Gosh..that is so interesting and the stamp story super

 

 Thanks

[Chasemuseum]

The artist Fortunino Matania RA, produced numerous excellent drawings during the war.

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fortunino_Matania

 

He died in 1961.  Copyright law in Britain used to be based on the life of the author +50 years, but under USA economic pressure was extended to +70  years in 1996. As the UK copyright was extended prior to his works moving into public domain they are still subject to copyright, which will now expire at 1 January 2022.

 

From some of my reading, it is unclear whether the copyright of his work is vested in the Sphere as part of his contract of employment or in his estate. I would have thought the Sphere (or the current owners of that company's intellectual property), however a book published in the 1990s on WW1 art credited ownership of the intellectual property to his estate/family.

 

Some of his works are now being professionally reprinted, with these "new" copies being sold at a relatively high price. I have no idea whether these modern prints are authorised through the copyright owners or rather "pirate" copies. Given the price, the former is implied but my suspicion is the latter.

Cheers

Ross

[spof]

On 20/07/2020 at 12:22, Chasemuseum said:

From some of my reading, it is unclear whether the copyright of his work is vested in the Sphere as part of his contract of employment or in his estate. I would have thought the Sphere (or the current owners of that company's intellectual property), however a book published in the 1990s on WW1 art credited ownership of the intellectual property to his estate/family.

 

Was he an employee? Many of these magazines probably just licenced prints as needed. Look at the Illustrated War News mentioned above. If all its contributing artists were employees than the staff would have been the size of an Army Division. They probably offered prints for sale (less their commission) as a money spinner and to keep up a good look.

If not, then the family/estate will hold it.

 

My favourite of his is The Last Absolution of the Munsters on the eve of the Battle of Aubers in 1915.

 

 

[Chasemuseum]

 

12 hours ago, spof said:

Was he an employee?

 

Probably not an employee in the conventional sense, rather a commissioned artist paid on the acceptance of output. There woulds still have needed to be some form of contract of employment. 

 

At issue, did copyright pass to "The Sphere" or only a limited right of publication including limited rights to publish special prints. For a junior artist or journalist of this period, all rights would normally have passed to the publisher. Matania was already a well established artist at this time and may have been able to negotiate a better contract. He was admitted as a member of the Royal Academy in the 1920s, the art world equivalent of a lawyer becoming a "Queens Council" at that point he would certainly have had the standing to dictate terms.

 

Of his Great War works, my favourite is "Saving Amiens"  

 

Cheers

Ross