"Le Portique de la Galerie Nationale a Londres"

(1878)

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"Le Portique de la Galerie Nationale a Londres", 1878, etching and drypoint, 378x209mm; 14 7/8" x 8 1/4", full margins.  Edition of approximately 100. Signed in plate. A brilliant, early impression with rich, velvety burr [Wentworth 40; Misfeldt 33].

James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902) began etching in 1860 with the art form's popular revival, but then stopped after 1861 and did not etch again until 1875.  Mrs. Kathleen Newton (1854-1882) was Tissot's primary model during the period of his most intense printmaking activities, appearing in two dozen of his prints.  Until her untimely death of tuberculosis at the age of 28 in the autumn of 1882, Kathleen Newton was the center of Tissot's art and life. The beautiful divorcee was Tissot's muse and his art a celebration of her beauty.  After Kathleen's death, Tissot returned to Paris and abandoned graphic work almost entirely, working nearly exclusively on illustrating the Old and New Testaments.

Kathleen Kelly Newton is seen here in the portico of the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square in London with the Church of Saint-Martin's-in-the-Fields seen through the portico. Kathleen appears as an art student, carrying a portfolio and wearing the hat and coat seen in other works that feature her. By placing her as an art student at the center of London's art world, Tissot was declaring her signficance to him as his muse.  Neither the National Gallery nor the Church of St-Martin's was given clear representation, which is consistent with Tissot's other depictions of significant architectual masterworks (taken in part from Misfeldt).

This Tissot is in a 24" x 30 3/4"" French Imperial leaf patterned and beaded styled frame with a gray wash over red brown undertoning.  The wood fillet echoes the leaf and bead pattern of the frame.  The outer truffle silk, middle wine colored beveled accent and inner truffle silk mats are acid and lignin free and are protected with Acrylite-AR OP3 (UV) by CYRO .... SOLD