Pair of French Fashion Etchings

A matching pair of hand-coloured Parisian fashion prints

A stylish matching pair of mid-twentieth-century French hand-coloured etchings depicting fashionable Parisiennes against two of the city's defining landmarks: the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. Each work is inscribed 'Eau forte originale' lower left and signed in pencil lower right. The printed image has been enhanced with hand-applied colour, visible beneath the glass, giving the pair a particularly rich and painterly appearance. Presented in substantial giltwood and composition frames with broad cream mounts and gilt fillets. Their scale, matching presentation and documented family provenance give the pair considerably greater presence than ordinary decorative fashion prints.

Lady Ernestyne Daphne Middleton-Trimm, Grove Court, Kensington High Street, London; acquired in Paris, 1952; by family descent to the present owner.

The pair belongs to the tradition of mid-century French decorative fashion prints combining original etching with hand-applied colour, produced for the domestic and decorative market in post-war Paris.