Sous les Figuires (Beneath the Fig Trees)

A romantic original etching by Louis Legrand, image size 12 1/4 x 18 1/4 inches, 1895, edition of 50, state V/V, cat: Arwas-102, pencil signed and numbered. Louis Legrand was an important artist of 'La Belle Epoch' in France of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He specialized in etchings of the women of Paris, from the wealthy elite to dancers and prostitutes. He studied with Felician Rops, and his work shows the influence of Rops' sometimes dark and erotic imagery. His work has also been compared to that of Toulouse-Lautrec, although in fact much of Legrand's work predates that of Toulouse-Lautrec, including a series of drawings and etchings that Legrand made of the Moulin Rouge and it's dancers.