Félix BRACQUEMOND (1833-1914): Portrait d'Edmond de Goncourt - 1881

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brancquemond-goncourt-feuille

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[Portrait of Edmond de Goncourt]

Etchings and tools, 512 x 340 mm. Beraldi 54, 8th state (of 9).

Superb impression of the 8th state, before the title, printed on japan paper, signed in ink by Bracquemond bottom right and dedicated to Maurice Guillemot.

Print in excellent condition, sheet in very good condition. All margins (sheet: 651 x 476 mm).

Bracquemond engraved the Portrait of Edmond de Goncourt in 1881. This portrait wasn't commissioned but was “a willing gesture by the engraver and as much a manifesto on his part as it is a homage to the model.” (Bouillon, p. 24)

Bracquemond had been a friend of the writer since 1856 and offered in 1879 to draw his portrait: “ I would like to make a big engraved portrait of you. It has to be worthy of you: you are a patron; as for me, I would like to show that I am capable of more than just decorating the lip of china plates.”

The preparatory drawing, in charcoal and stump (currently in the Musée du Louvre), required the writer to sit for extended periods of time in his house in Auteuil. It was exhibited in April 1880 at the Fifth Impressionist Exhibition. Bracquemond then set to work on the engraving, which took several months, during which he printed eight consecutive states. The print run for the final state was done by Salmon in 1881.

Beraldi mentions 25 proofs on parchment and 150 proofs on Japan paper printed from the 8th state and signed by hand by Bracquemond. Jean-Paul Bouillon notes that the engraving was reprinted in the early 20th century, and that Bracquemond asked the printer Alfred Porcabeuf to engrave the title EDMOND DE GONCOURT onto the copper plate, as well as a mention of the artist and the printer, in 1910 (this represents a ninth state). The copper plate is currently in a private collection.

Goncourt and Bracquemond were particulary fond of this engraved portrait and gave impressions as presents to their friends and acquaintances.

The proof we are offering is dedicated to Maurice Guillemot, a writer and art historian who was the friend of many artists (among whom Rodin), and who founded the International Society of Watercolour Artists.

Guillemot described the portrait of Goncourt thus: “a noble portrait in which Bracquemond captured, in an unaffected and manly attitude, with his sagacious and deep gaze turned inwards to examine his own thoughts, the man who for us is one of the last, one of the purest marshalls of literature in France.” (Villégiature d'artistes, 1897). In 1906, he published an article on « Félix Bracquemond, designer and ornamental artist », in the magazine L'Art et les artistes.

Reference: Bracquemond/Goncourt, Jean-Paul Bouillon, catalogue of the exhibition organised at the Musée du Dessin et de l'Estampe originale in Gravelines in 2004, on the occasion of the acquisition of 7 progressive states of the engraved portrait in 1999.