10. Félix Bracquemond
(1833-1914)

Vanneaux et Sarcelles (Lapwings and Teal)

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Vanneaux et Sarcelles

Vanneaux et Sarcelles (Lapwings and Teal)

Etching and drypoint, 1862, 350 x 250 mm., Béraldi 175 iii/iii, B. N. Inv. 159. Fine impression on wove paper with good margins, as published, in 1863, by the Societé des Aquafortistes and with the address of Cadart & Chevalier; two small thin spots, invisible from the front. The work is one of Bracquemond's Japonisme pieces. He had discovered Hokusai's Manga several years earlier and was profoundly influenced by the Japanese master's work. Here the birds are rendered realistically, but the close-up view with overlapping elements, the sharply cut-off foliage framing the print at the top and left, and the perfectly stylized flower arising from the bottom right are pure Japonisme. Bailly-Herzberg mentions the print being published by the Societé in the second state, rather than the third, but Béraldi's second state is before letters and known in only five or six proofs.