J. Villon Aquatint Etching After Picasso. Mother and Child

Jacques de Villon (French, 1875-1963) aquatint etching after a painting by Pablo Picasso (Spain/France, 1881-1973) titled "Mother and Child," originally painted in 1901, Chalcographie de Louvre edition. Depicts a seated woman in a blue robe, kissing the forehead of a child in a white nightshirt. Signed "Picasso" center-left in the plate. Chalcographie de Louvre blindstamp, lower center below plate. Housed in a contemporary wormy wood frame under glass. Plate: 25 3/4" H x 16 3/4" W. Sight: 33 1/2" H x 23 1/2" W. Framed: 35 3/4" H x 25 1/2" W. Note: In 1920, the artist Jacques de Villon was commissioned by the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune to create aquatint engravings based on the canvases of several important painters including Matisse, Modigliani, Picasso, and even Villon himself. Villon employed a painstaking and time-consuming 18th-century color engraving method using three and sometimes four plates to complete the final proof, in an effort to create a final print as true as possible to the original painting. After the original run of about 200 prints (plus several artist proofs) for the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, these plates were acquired by the Chalcographie du Louvre, which reissued an unknown number of the Villon prints in the mid-20th century, prior to Villon's death. For an excellent explanation of Villon's process as well as a detailed catalog of his prints, refer to Miguel Orozco, "The Prints of Jacques Villon Vol. 1" https://www.academia.edu/42703372/The_prints_of_Jacques_Villon_Vol_1_Interpretation_works