Giclee, Sport, Cricket, Ashes Legend, Kennington Oval, London, 1882

"The Cricket Match, Australia vs England, at Kennington Oval. From as instantaneous photograph"

This Giclee Inkjet Print is from a high digital scan of the antique hand coloured wood engraving printed in the Illustrated London News on September 2, 1882 of this now famous match that gives us the Ashes Series we still eagerly enjoy today.

Size of image Including date and title = 40cm x 50cm (16 x 20 inch)

Printed on Archival Quality conservation paper Limited Edition to 50 Giclee prints.

Numbered Limited Edition print with accompanied certificate explaining historical significance.

We are presented with a scene of Kennington Cricket Oval from behind the crowd to the right, of gentlemen in top-hats & bowlers, some gesticulating, the women in hoop skirts, lace and elaborate parosols. A modest timber planked "Grand-Stand" is packed with eager patrons on the left. A small boy hangs on to pull himself up for a better view of the cricket game being played in the middle distance. Twelve Cricketers can be seen, with one batsman swinging his bat, an animated wicket keeper behind him. Beyond the cricketers we can see a large tree surrounded by hundreds of spectators.  In the far distance we see double story buildings that surround the Oval with more spectators standing on top to get an eagle-eyed view of proceedings.

London Illustrated News employs Photography for the first time: What is considered the first Test Match of Cricket between Australia & England was in 1877. This set up the traditional rivalry that spectators were to enjoy until the auspicious British summer of 1882, that we see immortalized here. At London's Kennington Oval (now marked by Underground train station know as The Oval) on August 28-29, the colonial Australians would convincingly win the Test against a team of the best English cricketers. A consequence of such an predicament spawned a legend as the "The Demon Bowler", aka Fred Spofforth. It was the mock obituary in the SPORTING TIMES, that "deeply lamented the death of English Cricket" and proposing we discover the origin of the ASHES SERIES we still continue to enjoy today. As any national newspaper would know, reporting on such an event was highly a profitable endeavor. This was a perfect opportunity to test the this new technology called "photography". Previously all printed images first required an artist to paint a scene for the trained engravers/lithographers etc. to copy. However, this is the early 1880s, and they note under the title, "From an instantaneous photograph". This sporting event was so important that they were testing this exciting new technology.  It turns out, that Cricket was so popular in the late 1890s, the publisher known as News of the World chose "Famous Cricketers and Cricketing Grounds" to employ the next generation of printing technology, Photogravuring. No longer did the engraver use a silver albumen photograph to guide his engraving skill...they now could print the actual photographic image onto paper. Some of the 1882 test cricketers appeared in this later publication.