Sospel
Medium
etching on wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 16.5 × 22.5 cm (6 1/2 × 8 7/8 in.) sheet: 26.9 × 32.8 cm (10 9/16 × 12 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7484
Art Historical Context
Louis Conrad Rosenberg's *Sospel* (1923) captures the charm of the French village of Sospel, nestled in Alpes-Maritimes region near the Italian border. Created during Rosenberg's prolific period of European travels, this etching reflects the artist's keen eye for architecture and picturesque landscapes. As an American etcher and architect trained at MIT, Rosenberg was part of the early 20th-century revival of printmaking, blending precise draftsmanship with atmospheric depth to evoke the timeless beauty of old-world towns. Rendered in etching on wove paper—a smooth, versatile support ideal fo...
About the Artist
Louis Conrad Rosenberg
Louis Conrad Rosenberg (1890–1983), born in Portland, Oregon, to Charles and Hannah Rosenberg, emerged as one of America's foremost architectural etchers, blending his training as an architect with masterful printmaking. A precocious draftsman from childhood, he apprenticed under T. Chapell Brown in Portland starting at age sixteen in 1906, advancing to draftsman under mentor Ellis Fuller Lawrence...