The French artist Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914) was a central figure in the etching revival that emerged in France in the 1850s and 1860s. Although trained as a painter by a student of Ingres, he was self-taught as a printmaker and developed a distinctive style and technique that set his work apart from that of his contemporaries, and his reputation, both during his lifetime and after, rests primarily on his striking and technically accomplished etchings, both reproductive and original.

Bracquemond maintained close personal links with a number of artists and writers, including the Goncourts, Baudelaire, Manet, Fantin-Latour and Alphonse Legros, friendships to which his art bore witness in the form of etched portraits. The present work, a portrait of Legros, was etched in 1861 but not published until 1875, when it formed part of an edition aimed at collectors. It is a fine impression with a rich, dark burr in the areas worked in drypoint, and displays the full range of Bracquemond’s technique, from the finely detailed, naturalistic rendering of the sitter’s head to the looser, more experimental treatment of his torso and clothing.

Eric G. Carlson (1940 - 2016), New York; Paul Jeromack (b.1960), New York; given to Donato Esposito, 2013; Donato Esposito gift, 2013.

Impressions of Modern Life: Prints from the Courtauld Gallery, Royal Holloway College, Egham, Surrey, 13/01/2020-03/04/2020

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

Bibliotheque Nationale, Departement des Estampes, Inventaire du Fonds Francais, apres 1800 (IFF), Paris 1930-1967
cat. no. 138
p. 365
1942, Vol. 3

Les graveurs du XIXe siècle, guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes (12 vols)
cat. no. 73