Rodolphe BRESDIN: Intérieur Moldave - 1859/1865
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
SOLD
[Moldavian Interior]
Etching, 166 x 112 mm (image), 200 x 129 mm (platemark). Van Gelder 93 II/II, Préaud 65, 2nd state (of 2).
Very fine impression on white chine appliqué on white heavy wove paper. Generally in very good condition. Two very slight surface rubbing into the subject, many foxmarks in the margins. Very wide margins (sheet: 450 x 287 mm).
Provenance: Ernest Chausson (1855-1899) (note verso).
Dirk van Gelder mentions one proof only of the first state of the etching and a few proofs of the lithography transferred from etching. Bresdin then reworked the copper plate and added several important modifications (we are offering the copper plate for Bresdin’s Intérieur Moldave on our website: see description).
According to Dirk van Gelder, proofs from the second state “are probably all posthumous”. However, he only mentions proofs “on Japan paper and on cream or lightly coloured Ingres laid paper, printed in brown-black ink”, whereas our proof is printed on chine appliqué on wove paper, as is another copy from the same state, to be found in the Art Institute of Chicago.
Both the paper used, as well as the quality of the inking, which enhances the contrast between the deep blacks and the delicate details, suggest that this proof could have been printed in Bresdin's lifetime.
Let us mention that the proof of the first state referenced by Dirk van Gelder was printed on cream chine appliqué paper, just like some of the proofs of the lithography transferred from etching, also in Bresdin's lifetime.
The composer Ernest Chausson (1855-1899), a friend of Odilon Redon, collected drawings and engravings by Bresdin. His print collection, containing 41 works by Bresdin, was sold in 1933 by the Simonson art gallery in Paris. Lot 226 was “a superb proof on chine appliqué paper, with very wide margins” of the Intérieur moldave.
This proof is very probably the one we are offering.