Woman of Bayonne in the 16th Century, Antique Print, circa 1882

About this sheet

This original antique hand-colored wood engraving shows Woman of Bayonne in the 16th Century, a plate from Augustin Challamel's La France et les Francais a travers les siecles, Paris, circa 1882. A woman of Bayonne of the sixteenth century in a long gown with a cloak drawn over her head, taken from a print in the Bibliotheque nationale.

The engraving comes from the costume suite of Augustin Challamel's La France et les Francais a travers les siecles, F. Roy, editeur, Paris, circa 1882. Almost every plate in the series cites its source in the caption, a miniature in the Bibliotheque nationale, a tapestry, a picture in the Louvre or a sheet from the Gaignieres collection, and that habit of citation is what lifts the series above the invented costume books of the same decade. The technique is wood engraving, cut on the end grain so that the block could be locked up with the type and printed together with the text, and the color is applied by hand afterwards over the printed line. The washes in this suite are flat and confident, laid in a small number of strong tones, and they cross the engraved outline here and there in the way that only hand work does.

Regional dress is thinly represented in sixteenth century sources and the Basque country least of all, which makes a documented Bayonne figure one of the more unusual sheets in the volume. It hangs well singly above a console or in a grid with its companions, where the repeated plain ground and the consistent sheet size give a calm and deliberate effect.

Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Handling soiling along all four edges. Slight wear at the top left corner.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.