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Contributing Institution: Special Collections
Title: Elle
Creator: Besnard, Paul Albert, 1849-1934
Creator: Vernant, Auguste
Creator: Vitta, Joseph, 1860-1942
Identifier/Call Number: 2022.PR.18
Physical Description: 26 prints
Date (inclusive): [1900-1901, printed in 1921]
Physical Location: Request access to the physical materials described in this inventory through the
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Abstract: The title of the series of prints,
Elle, refers to Death (La Mort). The series is considered one of Albert Besnard's most significant works in printmaking and depicts
the omnipresence of death among the living.
Physical Description: 26 prints : etchings and aquatints on Van Gelder Zonen wove paper ; sheets 45.1 x 32.1 cm.
Language of Material: Collection material is in French.
Albert Besnard,
Elle, [1900-1901, printed in 1921], The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, Accession no. 2022.PR.18.
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2022pr18
Scope and Content of Collection
The title of the series of prints,
Elle, refers to Death (La Mort). The series is considered one of Albert Besnard's most significant works in printmaking and depicts
the omnipresence of death among the living.
In France, Death is usually personalized as female and, in this series, Death is shown in several scenes in the disguise of
the mistress of the household, of a courtesan, or of a lover. Death appears in all aspects of daily life, striking when one
least expects it, on the path of a horse rider or as a couple embraces in a garden. One scene is particularly cruel, as Death
stands in front of a mother with two young children on her lap, and the title of the print elucidates what is at stake:
Lequel? (Which One?). In
Après sa visite (After the Visit), a man and a woman hide their faces in despair. On the other hand, in
L'Importune (Importunate), a doctor by a patient's bedside pushes her away. In
Danger passé (Danger Passed), a horse rider continues. Other prints demonstrate the benevolence of Death who can bring relief. In one scene, Death brings
together a couple under her cloak.
In 1900, the French banker, collector, and patron Baron Joseph Vitta (1860-1940) commissioned the series
Elle from Besnard. The series was to include 50 plates, of which only 26 were editioned. (A 27th plate, titled
L'homme suivant la Mort, was realized but destroyed after only two proofs were pulled). Vitta controlled the preliminary drawings, the plates, and
the printed impressions, and limited the size of the edition. The first printing of the series comprised only nine proofs
of each plate. A second state of the series, with the addition of Besnard's monogram, was printed in nineteen impressions
in 1921. An additional set of impressions was offered to the printer of the series, Auguste Vernant. The plates were then
cancelled (impressions of the cancelled plates are at the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris).
Sources consulted:
Coppier.
Les eaux-fortes de Besnard, pages 186-195
Delteil.
Le peintre-graveur illustré (XIXe et XXe siècles), volume 30, no. 131-156
BN. Estampes, IFF après 1800, page 343-344, no. 62
Karen Meyer-Roux wrote this finding aid in September 2022.
Acquired in 2022.
Impressions of the complete set of 26 prints are at:
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
- National Gallery, Canada
- British Museum, London
- Bridwell Library, Dallas, Texas
Individual impressions of plates in the series are also held at:
- Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
- Yale University Medical Library
Letters to and/or from Besnard are at:
- National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
- Getty Research Library, Accession nos. 870420, 860758, 880233, 2001.M.38
Born in Paris, Albert Besnard entered the École des Beaux-Arts in 1866. He exhibited at the Salon of 1868 and won the Prix
de Rome in 1874. While in Rome, he met Charlotte Dubray (1854-1931), the daughter of the sculptor Vital Dubray (1813-1892),
and a sculptor herself, who benefited from the sponsorship of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland to study sculpture in Rome.
After their marriage in 1879, the couple moved to London. There, Dubray had numerous contacts and Besnard received numerous
commissions as a portrait painter. He also studied printmaking with Alphonse Legros. Their four children, three sons and a
daughter, became artists. Besnard was the director of the Académie de France in Rome from 1913-1921 and the director of the
École des Beaux-Arts in Paris from 1922 to 1932. He became the first painter to be given a state funeral in France.
The prints are listed as in Delteil.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
The series of prints was digitized in 2022 and the images are available online: http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2022pr18
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Death
Prints (visual works)
Etchings (prints)