At the age of fourteen the twin brothers Charles Maurice and Edward Julius Detmold had been introduced to etching, and by the age of sixteen, both had achieved an astonishing mastery of this printmaking process. In 1899 they began an extraordinary collaboration in which both brothers would work together in the production of a single plate.
Only 10 etchings were produced by the twins in this joint manner and exceptionally few impressions of these were printed at the time, for the artists’ personal interests alone. In 1900 they began a custom, which lasted only four years, of producing towards Christmas-time a joint etching for presentation to their friends.
In early 1906, the brothers completed their last joint etching and two years later, in a fit of deep depression, Charles Maurice committed suicide by inhaling chloroform at the age of only 24. |
