1st State (on 7) Of A Print By Bracquemond After Millet – "the New Born Lamb", 1886, Signed

Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914)
The Newborn lamb, 1886
etching after Jean-François Millet, 1st state of 7 (Beraldi 786, vol. XIII, supplement to the catalog of Bracquemond prints)
on Holland paper
full margins: 497 x 367 mm
Signed in pen “Bracquemond” lower right
mention in the margin, under the composition “...in progress for the proprietor / G. Petit Paris”

Collector’s mark lower right: Alfred Barrion (1842-1903, Lugt 76), stamped in blue ink :
https://www.marquesdecollections.fr/FtDetail/a14597aa-e254-4741-9ea9-3d7a833735e7

Provenance: lot n°163 of the Alfred Barrion sale, May 25, 1904, Hôtel Drouot, Paris “The Newborn, after JF Millet (B.786), very fine ep. of the 1st state, on Holland paper, signed”, sold for 64 francs; private collection, France.

Exhibition: “Estampes de Félix Bracquemond”, February-July 1897, no. 104

Good general condition
Framed, under glass
Dimensions with frame: 55 x 42 cm

* **

When one of the most talented engravers of 19th century France works onthe interpretation of a pastel by Jean-François Millet, the resultis a print remarkable as much for the clarity of the line as for itsfidelity to the Realist aesthetic.

As we research to situate this work both in its time and in the career of its author, it is in the finest institutions that we find information to complete the study : the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston holds a very close composition, in pastel, by Millet, the British Museum holds the only other known proof of the first state in a public collection, and the Fondation Custodia sheds light on our research on the eminent collector that was Alfred Barrion.

This is one of the very rare impressions of the 1st state of the engraving.
The only other known impression of the 1st state, kept at the British Museum, was acquired immediately by Campbell Dodgson (1867-1948, Curator of Prints at the BM), in 1927, from the artist's son, Pierre Bracquemond. Here is a link to the complete museum entry : https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1927-0312-124

Félix Bracquemond edited only a very small number of prints of his 1st states. While the British Museum likely holds the artist's proof from the studio, our print, bearing Bracquemond's signature in pen, was certainly intended for sale, and we can imagine that it entered Alfred Barrion's collection very soon after its creation, as this collector was always on the lookout for the rarest prints.

A recent exchange with the artist's specialist, Mr Jean-Paul Bouillon, author of the catalogue raisonné of Félix Bracquemond's prints, revealed that other proofs of this first state are held in private collections in the United States. In 1890, at the Exposition des Peintres Graveurs Français (Exhibition of French Engravers), Bracquemond exhibited a set of first states of engravings after Millet: this commercial venture certainly gave rise to a more extensive print run of this beautiful first state of the print.

The print presented here has been restored presumably once – near theapron of the shepherdess – and it has been doubled by another sheet of paper, to maintain its solidity. The print still conveys abeautiful overall freshness. A light restoration will be enough to see again its brilliance and to reveal with precision the contrasts intended and accomplished by the etcher.

Several additional research materials are available if you would like to discuss this print further.