Georges ROUAULT

(1871 - Paris - 1958)

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Il serait si doux d'aimer [To love would be so sweet] – 1922/1948

Etching, aquatint, drypoint and roulette over photogravure on Arches heavy laid paper with “Ambroise Vollard” watermark. Plate XIII from the Miserere portfolio, printed by Jacquemin in 1922, published in 1948 by Société d'Edition L'Etoile Filante. Edition of 425. Signed and dated in the plate.

Size of sheet: 65.3 x 50.5 cm.

Chapon & Rouault 54-111; Johnson 121.

Provenance: Juster Gallery, New York; The Martin and Liane Atlas Collection (acquired from the above in 1959); Sale of Atlas Collection, Sotheby’s New York, July 20, 2023, lot 581.

Georges Rouault: Il serait si doux d'aimer

Georges Rouault was commissioned by art dealer Ambroise Vollard (1866 – 1939) to make this piece as a part of the Miserere (Misery) Series in 1916 (during WWI). It was officially published only in 1948, almost 10 years after the tragic death of Vollard. In the justification of the edition it is noted that the work was “printed by Jacquemin, master-printer in Paris, from 1922 to 1927 under the initiative of Ambroise Vollard, and conserved by him until his death”. All plates were cancelled after printing.

Georges Rouault: Il serait si doux d'aimer

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