Prints and Principles

Most of the recent posts give details about individual prints and earlier posts discuss some of the subtle principles guiding artists in making images meaningful and memorable. For prints that are unsold, click "Items still available for sale" below. All other prints are no longer available. My contact email is oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com and my Instagram username is @printsandprinciples. I have created a separate blog to show my own work: https://printsandprinciplesjamesbrown.blogspot.com

Sunday, 23 February 2025

Félix Bracquemond, “La Récolte des Pommes de Terre”, 1868, after Jules Breton

Félix Bracquemond (aka Joseph Auguste Félix Bracquemond) (1833–1914)

“La Récolte des Pommes de Terre” (aka “The Potato Harvest”), 1868, after Jules Breton’s (aka Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton) (1827–1906) painting shown in the Salon of 1868 (see https://www.artrenewal.org/artworks/the-potato-harvest/jules-adolphe-breton/3172), printed by Alfred Salmon (fl.1863–1894) and published in Paris in the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” (1^st August, 1868) between pages 10 and 11.

Etching and drypoint with pale plate tone on laid paper with a small margin around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 19.1 x 14.8 cm; (image borderline) 16.3 x 13.3 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “JULES BRETON PINX./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LA RÉCOLTE DES POMMES DE TERRE.”; (right) “BRACQUEMOND SCULP./ Imp. A. Salmon_Paris.”

State iii (of iii) with the addition of publication details.

Beraldi 290 (Henri Béraldi 1888, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes: BRACQUEMOND”, vol. 3, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, pp. 102–03, cat. no. 290 [state 3]); IFF 245 (Jean Laren & Jean Adhémar 1942, “Inventaire du Fonds Français après 1800: BOCQVIN–BYON”, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Estampes, vol. 3, p. 372–73, cat. no. 245 [see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5488545z/f381.item]).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Two peasant women in a field; the woman at right stands holding a sack, into which the other woman, at left, pours potatoes from her woven basket, while kneeling on the ground; in the immediate foreground, pebbles at left and a spade a right; after Jules Breton … 1868/ Etching with drypoint” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1924-1126-24

Condition: a strong and well-printed (near faultless) impression with a small margin around the image borderline and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in an excellent (near pristine) condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or stains.

I am selling this elegantly simple and powerful image by one of the major printmakers of 19^th century France, for AU$207 (equivalent to approximately US$132, EUR 125.48, or GBP 104.15 at the time of listing) and includes Express Mail Service (EMS) postage and handling to any worldwide destination. Please note that any import duties or taxes levied by the destination country are the responsibility of the buyer and are not included in the purchase price. Payment is requested in Australian dollars (AU$207).

If you are interested in purchasing this sensitively executed and exceptionally beautiful etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold