A French Girl
1909
Medium
drypoint on laid paper
Dimensions
plate (cut to plate mark): 10.8 × 7.2 cm (4 1/4 × 2 13/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7598
Art Historical Context
**A French Girl** by Théodore Roussel (1909) is a charming intimate print from the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection, housed in the CG-E Department. Measuring a petite 10.8 × 7.2 cm (cut to the plate mark), this drypoint on laid paper invites close contemplation, evoking the everyday elegance of early 20th-century French life through its titular subject. Drypoint, an intaglio technique, allowed Roussel to scratch directly into a metal plate with a sharp tool, raising a soft burr that produces richly textured, velvety lines when inked and printed. Unlike etched lines, which are pr...