Marcellin Desboutin

Original Prints: Drypoint Engravings

Although not exceedingly well-known today, Marcellin Desboutin (1822 - 1902) was an accomplished printmaker, with a clear penchant for the lively line and the velvety burr of drypoint portraiture.

A flamboyantly Bohemian aristocrat, an intimate friend of both Manet and Degas, he appears in a number of their works and conversely left us quite a few images of his fellow artists, as well as a number of self-portraits.

	L'Homme à la Pipe Man with a Pipe Clément-Janin 67 drypoint, 1879, the extremely rare second state (as annotated by the artist), dedicated to Roger-Milès, and signed in Conté crayon by the artist. This is Desboutin's most renowned self-portrait, in a superb impression of an early state of this remarkable print.
	Fumeur au Grand Chapeau Smoker in a Large Hat Clément-Janin 71 drypoint, 1888, an undetermined state (of three?), dedicated and signed by the artist This masterful self-portrait of the artist combines the aesthetics of "realistic" impressionism with Rembranesque introspection.         next artist  >