The Visitation at Villa Montrouge

La Visitation à la Villa Montrouge (original French title)

Color lithograph on smooth wove paper.
Reference: Cailler 94; Una Johnson 30.
Plate from L’Album des Peintres-Graveurs.  Published by Ambroise Vollard, Paris.
Edition of 100. There seems to be a wide variation of colorations for this print, from the very wispy to the muddy, and at times with strong yellow overtones.  This impression, in our opinion, printed in lovely pastel hues.
Signed and numbered in pencil.
Provenance: Henri M. Petiet, with his monogram stamp on the verso (Lugt 5031).
A very fine impression in excellent condition, with strong colors.  One faint spot of foxing in the lower edge of the white dress of the woman in the foreground.

The villa which is the scene of this encounter is Maurice Denis’ own in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.  The moment he depicts here is one when his wife Marthe was being visited by her cousin Elizabeth, both women pregnant at that time.  The Christian reference is obvious and reflects Denis’ deep connection to biblical stories when creating.