The Lady with the Swanns

La Dame aux Cygnes (original French title)

Etching, aquatint, roulette, and drypoint on thin laid paper, 1879.
Reference: Bourcard & Goodfriend 144 i/iii.
A very fine impression of the extremely rare first state or of an unknown state between one and two. Bourcard describes the sky as almost blank in the first state, which is clearly not the case. It is also surprising that he would not have mentioned the heavy roulette shading that masks the swans to a large extent.
Signed with the red owl stamp (Lugt 977).
With the J and G (Jim Goodfriend) initials, forming a butterfly stamped on the verso.
The paper toned inside a prior mat window, providing a rather pleasing tonal frame for the image. Plate size: 4 ⅜ x 6 inches.