Etching (line etching, drypoint and sandpaper on zinc) on fine laid paper with watermark (stylised flower), 13.2 x 10.4 cm (plate), 25.5 x 19.5 cm (sheet). C. 1891. One of only 6 impressions printed from the uncut plate with the wide plate margins (for the further edition of 18 copies the plate was trimmed down to the image). Numbered 3/6 in pencil and with the monogram stamp C.P. of the estate edition of 1923. Only two impressions printed by Pissarro himself are documented during his lifetime. Reference: Delteil 102
Only a few French Impressionists devoted themselves to printmaking. The only ones who really did so with enthusiasm, ingenuity and without being deterred by the fact that sales success was low during their lifetimes were Edgar Degas and Camille Pissarro, who even worked closely together at times. Pissarro usually developed etchings in numerous states, each of which he only made a few impressions himself. Unlike Degas or Renoir, for example (copies of which have survived that were coloured by the artists after printing), Pissarro - when he made prints - was just as little interested in the colour that was so important for Impressionist painting, as he was in perfection. Rather, the various etching techniques such as line etching, drypoint, vernis mou, aquatint or sandpaper offered the possibility of reproducing various light effects and weather situations in extremely differentiated shades of grey and experimenting with surprising effects. Pissarro produced the present subject of "Paysanne" in a single state, making it a particularly spontaneous work in which the artist refrained from further reworking. After only 8 impressions (2 of which were made by Pissarro himself), the plate was trimmed to the edge of the motif after Pissarro's death in order to produce another small edition of 18 impressions. Other impressions of the uncut plate can be found in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne and the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, for example.
