André-Charles Coppier (1867–1948;
fl.1894–1911)
“Les Baigneuses des Îles Borromées” (aka
“The Bathers of the Borromean Isles”), 1911, pencil-signed proof-state etching
after Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s (1796–1875) painting
of the same composition (see URL below for image) (c1865–70) in the collection of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art
Institute (Williamstown, Massachusetts).
The Clark Art Institute offers the following
insight about Corot’s painting:
“The Borromean Islands, on Lake Maggiore
in Northern Italy, are famous for their isolation and natural beauty. In
Corot’s painting, nude bathers frolic in the water, the gray-green branches of
tall trees shading their bodies from the warm, golden sunlight. The artist
painted this scene more than twenty years after his last visit to Italy,
presenting the traditional theme of the nude in a landscape as a nostalgic
memory—more poetic fiction than realistic fact.”
The Clark Art Institute also offers a
marvellous essay (available online) by Richard Rand (2012), focused on Corot’s
painting: https://media.clarkart.edu/1955.537_EuroCat.pdf
Camille Corot, "The Bathers of the
Borromean Isles," c. 1865-70
ClarkArtInstitute Published on Aug 7, 2009
Etching with light plate tone on
buff-coloured fine wove (China) paper, a scratch-proof impression (i.e. there
is lightly scratched/inscribed lettering) before the addition of publication
details, signed by the artist in pencil and backed on a support sheet.
Size: (sheet) 81.1 x 57.5 cm; (plate)
77.5 x 54.3 cm; (image borderline) 71.4 x 50.5 cm.
Lettered on plate within the image
borderline at lower left corner: “COROT”.
Inscribed/scratched on plate below the
image borderline: (centre) “[…?] progres for M” (this reading is VERY tentative
as the inscription is virtually indecipherable).
Hand-signed in pencil below the image
borderline at lower right.
I have been unable to find another copy
or any information about this exceptionally large etching, suggesting that this
proof-state impression may never have been published and perhaps this
impression may be one of very few copies extant—presuming that there are other
copies.
Condition: richly inked, faultless
museum-quality impression with generous margins and backed with a support sheet
of fine archival/millennium quality washi paper. The sheet is in near pristine
condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or
signs of use).
I am selling this huge etching of the
utmost rarity in faultless condition for AU$560 (currently US$385.04/EUR343.42/GBP305.76
at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the
world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).
If you are interested in purchasing this
eye-catching masterpiece of 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
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