Charles Maurin
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Devant La Glace
Devant La Glace
soft-ground
etching,
circa 1896-1900 (?),
with additional hand-coloring ("à la poupée"),
a splendid working proof impression of an early
undescribed state, signed by the artist in pencil lower right,
ostensibly pulled by the artist himself (prior to the Pellet edition*),
on heavy beige wove paper, with wide margins, annotated bottom margin in
pencil, "femme à sa toilette - Epreuve tirée par l'artiste, avant le tirage de l'Editeur Pellet", some lightstaining inside the window of an old mount, slight overall soiling, otherwise in very good condition
The
present impression, which is most probably unique, has the evanescent
quality of a vaporous, almost unreal, vision that derives from the hand
coloring, even though the fine relief highlighting in the filigree of
the mirror frame and the detailed strands of hair are
already clearly in evidence here.
The only similar impression that we have seen is derived from the Fréchuret thesis and documentation at the Musée Crozatier, Le Puy en Velay, which is also described as a trial proof, and now in the Sagot-Le Garrec collection, Paris.**
P. 286x135 mm, S. 440 x 265 mm.
Provenance:
the Alfred Barrion collection (Lugt 76) with the collector's stamp, lower right; Alfred Barrion was a 19th-century collector renowned for his perfect taste ("goût parfait") and the exquisite quality of the impressions in his vast portfolio.
