Delivery, plate three from Woman

Art Historical Context

Albert Besnard's *Delivery, plate three from Woman* (c. 1886) is a masterful print from the French artist's intimate series exploring themes of femininity and. Created during the vibrant late 19th-century Parisian art scene, Besnard, a leading Symbolist painter and printmaker, captured the raw emotion of childbirth with delicate sensitivity. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department, this etching 31.7 × 24.7 cm and exemplifies Besnard's innovative approach to intimate, human subjects amid the era's fascination with naturalism and psychological depth. Printed on luxurious cream Japanese paper, known for its soft texture and superior ink absorption, the work combines etching, drypoint, and aquatint techniques. Etching provides crisp lines, drypoint adds velvety burrs for tender textures like skin and fabric, and aquatint yields rich tonal gradations, evoking a painterly atmosphere. These methods, refined by Besnard, bridged painting and printmaking, influencing contemporaries like Whistler and elevating etching from reproductive tool to expressive medium. This poignant plate invites reflection on women's lived experiences, blending technical virtuosity with emotional resonance—a testament to Besnard's legacy in pushing printmaking's boundaries during France's fin-de-siècle artistic renaissance.

About the Artist

Albert Besnard · 1849–1934

Paul-Albert Besnard, known as Albert Besnard, was born on June 2, 1849, in Paris to an artistic family: his father, Louis Adolphe Ferdinand Besnard, was a history painter and pupil of Ingres, while his mother, Marie Louise Pauline Vaillant, was a noted miniaturist trained under Lizinska de Mirbel. Precociously talented, he began his training under Jean-François Brémond before entering the École de...