Original mezzotint printed in brown / black ink on chine appliqué (China paper mounted on stiff wove paper).
Platemark: 16 5/16 x 22
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Trimmed down to the platemark on all four sides then mounted on wove paper, otherwise in very fine condition. 'Le Banc Jardin' is the most characteristic of the small group of mezzotint studies that Tissot made between 1883 and 1885. Although he may have learned the technique of mezzotint while he was in England, possibly from Seymour Haden or from his printer Fredrick Goulding, there are no known mezzotints by him before those made in Paris in 1883. It is characteristic of his enormous facility as a printmaker that his first plate in a very difficult medium should be so brilliantly conceived and executed. The quality of inner glowing light which is inherent to mezzotint, and the richness of the combination of blacks and the pattern highlights, given this work a drama of decorative surface which is extremely striking. The contrast of texture - the fur rug, the silk of the dresses, and the foliage beyond - are a tour-de-force of printmaking. The deliberate stylization of the figures, both in pose and in grouping, which is so apparent in 'Le Banc de Jardin' marks one of the peaks of Tissot's later style.
From the edition of unknown size (Wentworth estimates a total of 500 cumulatively in the three states).
Signed in the plate in drypoint in the title margin below the image lower left J.J. Tissot.
A fine impression of Wentworth's second state of three, printed after the addition of the title to the margin below the image
Tissot 77; Béraldi 66; Wentworth 75 ii/ii
