Orphan
James Tissot French
Not on view
Tissot used printmaking to disseminate his painted compositions, in this case, one that he exhibited in London in 1879. Like "The Widower" (2019.282.9), this etching relays a morose scene enveloped by a tangle of vegetation. His companion, Kathleen Newton, and her daughter served as models, as they did repeatedly throughout the late 1870s. Tissot never completed the etching, printing only a small group of trial proofs. We do not know why he abandoned the plate, but a burnishing of the child’s head in one impression suggests that he may not have been content with the way the figure had been etched
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