Leonard Baskin (American, 1922-2000). "Elizabeth Sidall" color etching on Cartiere Miliani Fabriano paper, ed. 8/50, ca. 1996. Artist's signature and edition handwritten in pencil beneath image. Cartiere Miliani Fabriano watermark in lower right corner beneath image. An evocative color etching by Leonard Baskin depicting Elizabeth Sidall (English, 1829-1862), an artist and muse in the Pre-Raphaelite circle who became the wife of poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rosetti (English, 1828-1882) in 1860. Here, the prolific watercolorist is rendered in a way that starkly contrasts her past depictions. Typically shown as the epitome of Pre-Raphaelite beauty - delicate and peaceful with dazzling copper hair - in this etching she is instead shown with a wiry coiffure, a hook nose, dark eyes, and jagged teeth. Size of image: 23.75" W x 17.5" H (60.3 cm x 44.4 cm) Size of matte: 31" W x 25" H (78.7 cm x 63.5 cm)

Sadly, Elizabeth died from an overdose of the opiate laudanum at the age of 32. She was buried with a book of Rosetti's poetry which he authorized Charles Howell to retrieve in 1869. Perhaps this portrait is meant to show her in this disinterred state - disrupted from death for her ex-lover's art. A remarkable example of Baskin's characteristically haunting style, intense manner, and enormous scale, "Elizabeth Sidall" is fit with a custom matte and hand-signed by the artist. Note Baskin's use of raised inks to give texture to her hair, eyes, and mouth!

Leonard Baskin was a 20th century "Renaissance Man" - a highly respected sculptor, printmaker, writer, and watercolorist. His prints included mythological, classical, and biblical scenes as well as portraits and floral studies. Baskin studied at Yale University from 1941 to 1943 and received his B.A. at the New School for Social Research in 1949. He also founded Gehenna Press which specialized in fine book production and taught printmaking and sculpture at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts as well as Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts from 1953 until 1974. Baskin's artworks are in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, the Vatican Museum, the Smithsonian Institute, the Tate Gallery in London, and other elite institutions. "Elizabeth Siddal" has been collected by the Delaware Art Museum (object number 2010-24) and the British Museum (Museum number 2002,0428.9). His noted public sculptural commissions include pieces for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial as well as the Holocaust Memorial in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Baskin also received many prestigious honors, such as a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Gold Medal of the National Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award. He was also honored with numerous retrospective exhibitions at institutions including the Smithsonian Museum, the Albertina Museum, and the Library of Congress.

Provenance: ex-private Bishop Family Trust collection, the Trust of the late Bill Bishop, a noted antiquarian with shops in Scottsdale, Arizona and Allenspark, Colorado, USA, acquired before 2010

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#173235

Artist's signature and edition handwritten in pencil beneath image. Fit with custom matte. Cartiere Miliani Fabriano watermark in lower right corner beneath image. Etching and matte in overall excellent condition.