David Brown Milne 1882 - 1953

David Milne Jr. and David P. Silcox, David B. Milne, Catalogue Raisonné of the Paintings, Volume II, 1929-1953, pp. 457 to 462, 208.4 to 208.16 for the eleven paintings related to Prospect Shaft

Prospect Shaft is based on Flooded  Prospect Shaft I, one of a series of paintings depicting Dan O'Connor's failed prospecting holes in Temagami, which Milne did in the summer of 1929. 

Milne didn't turn to this subject as a drypoint until two years later in Palgrave, and his initial trials (there were quite a number) tend to be dark and dense, like the painting.  In some Palgrave paintings, such as Framed Etching, Milne used a device he called a dazzle spot - a blank area that gave a viewer a sharp instant entry point to the picture.  This is how Milne finally resolved what to do with the reflections in the pool of water.