Description:This stunning, rare work depicting Jacqueline Roque, Picasso's second wife, is surely one of the artist's more beautiful and flattering portraits of his many subjects. She appears to radiate an inherent glow and happiness that resonates to those who view her, bearing an expression of utter peace and tranquility.
Created in Cannes, March 4, 1961, this piece is dated in the plate '24.3.61' in the lower right. Printed by Frélaut, this etching & aquatint features a defined plate mark with wide margins on vélin paper 'sans filigrane' featuring deckle edges on the top and bottom.
Picasso has skillfully perfected the art of highlighting and lowlighting through the medium of etching, manipulating shadow and integrating light with the delicate features of portrait to help raise her from the surface of the paper. This rich and velvety, atmospheric impression has been so meticulously etched and detailed, it has be heralded as one of Picasso's tour-de-force prints of this period. It is the fanaticism at which he attacked the plate which makes this 1st state impression virtually a unique proof.
A beautiful portrait of Jacqueline Roque depicts her dressed for her wedding day, presumably to Pablo Picasso. She was his second wife that would be the inspiration for the majority of his works throughout his later years. According to writer and curator, Berta Sichel:
His exhaustive exploration into portraiture developed over six decades certainly reflects the spirit, the mood, and the presence of all the women that ever crossed through his life, whether enchantresses, lovers or wives. In varying degrees, they nurtured his creativity and infused his art with innovation and audacity (ArtNet Magazine) .
Catalogue Raisonné & COA:
It is fully documented and referenced in (copies will be enclosed as added documentation with the invoices that I will accompany the final sale of the work) :
1) Baer, Brigitte. Picasso Peintre-Graveur - Catalogue Raisonné de l'œuvre grave et des monotypes, Tome V 1959 - 1965. Listed and illustrated as cat. no. 1089 on pg. 53.
About the Framing:
Conservation framed with museum quality, archival materials, this work is set in a Baroque-inspired gold moulding. With bold external sculptural accents, the undulating organic forms compliment the detail of this work. In addition, the contrasting tones and highlights of the framework accentuate the deep tones of the work. Completed with white linen wrapped mattes and a matching gold inner fillet, this work is set behind archival Plexiglas.
