'Geese', drypoint, taken from a set of eight by Berthe Morisot, France, ca.1888.

Print depicting geese by a lake.

According to the V&A registered file 'This group of etchings makes up the artist's entire output of the medium. A number of them served as preliminary studies for some of her best known paintings, Portrait de Julie Manet; Portrait de Jeune Fille; Berthe Morisot et Julie; les Canards, Bassin du Mesnil and Jardin de Mézy. The etchings were executed during 1887-88 at the urging of Mary Cassatt and Mallarmé. At that time only a few proofs were pulled, virtually unobtainable today. The present set was printed later by Ambroise Vollard'. Wesley Johnston, who was up-dating Janine Bailly-Herzberg's 1979 catalogue of Berthe Morisot's drypoint print (Les Estampes de Berthe Morisot, Gazette de Beaux-Arts, May-June 1979, pp.216-227), sent the following e-mail on the 26 September 2006:-

'Actually these were not preliminary studies for her paintings. Most of them are in fact copies of her prior works in other media. Also, Janine Bailly-Herzberg in her 1979 Gazette des Beaux-Arts article, particularly notes that the Manets (Eugène and his wife Berthe Morisot) did not go to Mézy until 1890 (thus after the plates were all made), so that the attribution of Mézy to that plate is erroneous. I have gone through the Angoulvent, Bataille and Wildenstein, and Clairet catalogues of her works and have identified the works that were the sources of thsoe drypoint plates that she copied from prior works.'

From a set of eight later impressions printed by Ambroise Vollard from the cancelled plates.

Who was Berthe Morisot? (1841 –1895)
Born in France, made prints in France
Printmaking activity: 1878 –1895
Born into an upper middle-class family, Berthe Morisot was a painter who enjoyed great success during her lifetime. Like Mary Cassatt – whose prints may have encouraged Morisot’s own printmaking – she became a key member of the Impressionist group. She turned to printmaking late in her career, and only shared her printed works with family and close friends. Her prints were not exhibited until 1907, twelve years after her death.

E.694-1959