Last Poppies

1897·Etching and softground in dark reddish-brown on bluish-ivory laid paper·Image/plate: 7.9 × 6.8 cm (3 1/8 × 2 11/16 in.); Sheet: 10.5 × 9.4 cm (4 3/16 × 3 3/4 in.)

About two years after finishing the plate for L’agonie des fleurs, Roussel created his color print Last Poppies. While dying poppies figure prominently in the impressively large and detailed L’agonie, they are the sole subjects of the much smaller, more abstract later etching. While Roussel realized the middle tones on the leaves and flower petals through parallel and crosshatched lines, the nearly uniform dark background in Last Poppies results from Roussel’s mastery of soft ground evident already in L’agonie.

Catalogue

Year: 1897
Medium: Etching and softground in dark reddish-brown on bluish-ivory laid paper
Dimensions: Image/plate: 7.9 × 6.8 cm (3 1/8 × 2 11/16 in.); Sheet: 10.5 × 9.4 cm (4 3/16 × 3 3/4 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Theodore Roussel

Artist

Theodore Roussel

Painting

Theodore Casimir Roussel (1847–1926) was a French-born English painter and graphic artist, best known for his landscapes and genre scenes.

Great Britain

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