Shaw, Robert. “Middle Dutch Church (Old Rip Van Dam) New York”

Robert Shaw (1859-1912).  “Middle Dutch Church (Old Rip Van Dam) New York." 1906. Remarque, Lily & thorns. 8 x 12 ½.  Etching.  Signed in plate only.  Stamp on verso for patrons of The Colonial Society of America.   Ed:142/300.  Very good condition.    Born and raised in Wilmington, Delaware, artist and etcher Robert Shaw worked throughout his life depicting scenes of local importance and those which he sketched while on travels in the U.S. and abroad.  Shaw was an apparently self-taught artisan who worked first as a scenic landscape painter before learning the technique of etching.  His two artistic peers in the Wilmington area were his good friend J.D. Chalfant (1856-1931) and the popular late 19th century illustrator Howard Pyle (1853-1911).  Shaw was an active member of the American Painter-Etcher Movement.  He continued to work throughout his life although crippled by a childhood illness, and suffering from deafness and severe cataracts.  The works of Robert Shaw represent a