Anthony Gross (1905-1984) studied painting at the Slade School of Art in London, then printmaking, first at the Central School, also in London, and then in Paris and Madrid. He became a prolific and skilled printmaker, experimenting with a wide variety of tools. This work, which won a prize at Lugano, Italy, in 1954, is very much a 'signature' piece. Gross recorded people and places met during his extensive travels with great warmth and sensitivity to locality. He never discovered the real owner of this charming, slightly dilapidated château encountered in rural France: a passing boy, when asked who owned the house, simply replied C'est la maison du poète (It's the poet's house).