24. Félix Buhot
(1847-1898)

Idée du Premier Frontispice pour “L’Ensorcelée” de J. Barbey d’Aurevilly (Idea for the First Frontispiece for J. Barbey d’Aurevilly’s novel “Bewitched”)

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Buhot, Idée du Premier

Idée du Premier Frontispice pour “L’Ensorcelée” de J. Barbey d’Aurevilly (Idea for the First Frontispiece for J. Barbey d’Aurevilly’s novel “Bewitched”)

Etching, drypoint, aquatint and soft ground, 1877, B/G 114 only state, 248 x 178 mm., provenance: Henri Petiet (stamp verso). Fine, inky impression with plate tone on a thin wove paper, actually a page from the journal L’Artiste with printed text verso, with full margins, signed and inscribed in pencil "Frontispice pour l'Ensorcelée (demeure inédite) 1er état" (there was no second state). There are two tiny nicks at the edges and a small area of skinning verso. Buhot carried the project this far, but no further, before abandoning it. The plate was destroyed after a few proofs and counterproofs, and impressions, consequently, are very rare. The image never appeared in the book.