Félix BUHOT: La Tiare - 1888
SOLD
Etching and drypoint, 394 x 325 mm. Bourcard/Goodfriend 173, 2nd state (of 4).
Impression of the 2nd state (of 4), with Saint Peter's Basilica sketched in the upper part of the plate, but before the silhouettes of Notre-Dame de Paris and Saint Peter's in Rome were engraved on either side of the tiara.
Superb impression, largely retouched in charcoal and white chalk: St Peter's of Rome engraved at the top of the plate is hidden under a veil of white chalk. The same church is sketched in charcoal to the right of the tiara and Notre-Dame de Paris to its left. Some white chalk highlights and a few touches of brown wash, notably in front of the two monuments. Inscriptions bottom in black pencil: La (?) Lettre [The Letter] and in pen and ink: Tiare offerte à S. S. Léon XIII à l’occasion du Jubilé pontifical et exécutée par M. Froment-Meurice orfèvre. [Tiara offered to His Holiness Leo XIII on the occasion of the Pontifical Jubilee and executed by M. Froment-Meurice goldsmith].
On the reverse in a corner, annotation in graphite: Coll. HB (Collection of Henrietta Buhot, wife of the artist). A stain in the lower margin and some soiling, otherwise in good condition and full margins (sheet: 645 x 360 mm).
"This tiara was offered to His Holiness Leo XIII on the occasion of his Jubilee and executed by the goldsmith M. Froment-Meurice who commissioned Félix Buhot to reproduce it in engraving. (Gustave Bourcard, p. 114, translated by us).