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Albert Besnard

  1849 - 1934
 
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Elle consacre l’amour

Elle consacre l’amour   1900

Original etching.

Excellent impression with crisp etched line. From the only edition of 19 signed proof impressions in the second state of the plate (there were 9 impressions printed in the first state).

£420



La Misère

La Misère   1886

Original etching.

Rare first state proof. Prior to the addition of a light aquatint ground across the entire surface of the plate.

Brilliant impression with clear, crisp etched line. Signed and inscribed in pencil by the artist "1 etat encre".

£460



La Muse Accoudée sold

La Muse Accoudée   1884

Original etching.

Superb signed proof impression with strong line. One of only 75 signed proofs, printed prior to the unsigned edition.

SOLD

 

The gifted painter-etcher Paul-Albert Besnard was born in Paris in 1849. Brought up by his mother after his father’s premature death, Albert Besnard was educated from the outset with the aim of becoming an artist. By 1869 he had begun printmaking and by 1874 he had won the Prix de Rome for painting. In 1879 he moved to England where he became acquainted with Whistler, Bracquemond and, above all, Alphonse Legros. Legros exerted a tremendous influence upon Albert Besnard’s printed work and it was under Legros’s guidance that Besnard established both his printmaking techniques and his predominantly morose style of subject matter. [more]