Sadness (Tristesse)
1887
Medium
etching on cream laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 15 x 9.8 cm (5 7/8 x 3 7/8 in.) sheet: 28.6 x 20.3 cm (11 1/4 x 8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Bell
Accession Number
1993.71.3
Art Historical Context
Albert Besnard's *Sadness (Trist)*, created in 1887, is a delicate etching on cream laid paper that captures the emotional depth characteristic of late 19th-century French art. just 15 x 9.8 cm on the, this intimate print invites close contemplation, its modest scale enhancing the personal resonance of its title. Besnard (1841–1934), a leading French painter and printmaker, was renowned for his mastery of light, texture, and psychological nuance, often blending influences from Whistler and the emerging Symbolist movement. Etching, Besnard's chosen medium here, involves coating a metal plate w...
About the Artist
Albert Besnard
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...