'The Shrimper's Return' a vignette half title page which should be bound in with in volume II, but is sometimes found in vol. I. Engraved by John James Hinchcliffe (1805-1875). Of this and the engraving in the other volume Wilkie wrote

"Of the two vignette engravings, that in the first volume is executed from one of Mr. Collins's designs for an intended picture.; and that in the second, from one of his sketches from Nature. Both speak for themselves as examples of the most popular branches of his Art; and in both, the vigour and freshness of the original drawings have been preserved with remarkable fidelity and success under the graver of Mr. Hinchcliffe."
Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, Esq., R.A. II 340 

William painted many pictures showing children and women - and indeed men - on the beach engaged in fishing. Sometimes a child's face would be that of the child of a patron.

 


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