The printmaker and illustrator Adolphe Lalauze, who trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Toulouse, is known primarily as an etcher, particularly for his very fine reproductive prints (an etching he made after Edward Burne-Jones’s The Beguiling of Merlin played an important role in promoting Burne-Jones’s reputation in France). He enjoyed considerable success at the Salon, being awarded medals in 1876, 1878 and 1889.

The present work is a bust-length portrait of the printmaker and designer Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914), a leading figure in the etching revival that began in Europe in the mid-19th century and was at its height in the last three decades of the century. It is likely to have been made after a photograph – judging from Bracquemond’s appearance, probably in the 1890s when he was approaching late middle age – and is of the type published as a hors-texte print in one of the leading art periodicals of the time (such as the Gazette des Beaux-Arts). This particular print, a proof, was published in Figures contemporaines : tirées de l'album Mariani [Album Mariani] by Angelo Mariani (Paris: Henri Floury, 1897). The British Museum has another example of this print, also a proof (PD 1923,0714.219).

Although Bracquemond’s costume is carefully delineated, Lalauze devoted most of his attention to a meticulous rendering of the sitter’s face, capturing a sense of the aging artist’s personality as well as his appearance.

Paul Prouté, Paris; from whom purchased by Donato Esposito (b. 1973), April 2007 (stock number 1326); Gift of Donato Esposito, 2012

Print Room Display - Honouring John House, The Courtauld Gallery (Prints and Drawings Study Room), 05/08/2015-25/02/2016

Inscription: inscription : printed : within image & recto : : Ad. Lalauze

Inscription: inscription : handwritten in pencil : lower left hand corner & verso : : ESPOSITO