26. Theodore Roussel
(1847-1926)

Portrait of Miss Edith Austin

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Roussel, Portrait Miss Austin

Portrait of Miss Edith Austin

Etching and dyrypoint, 1895-1900, 149 x 100 mm., Hausberg 53 ii/ii, 20 impressions of this state, 24 in all. Provenance: Miss Hetty Pettigrew (Roussel's model). Fine, delicate impression with modulated plate tone on old laid paper, trimmed near the platemark and signed in pencil on the tab. There is a dedication to Hetty Pettigrew and a second signature on the reverse. While showing a certain similarity to portrait studies by Whistler of both the 1880s and 1870s, the work is really in a genre of vignetted heads that Roussel carved out for himself and used consistently from 1887 through 1924. Edith Austin was a niece of Roussel's first wife and remained a close friend of the artist to his death.