Jacques Villon: Londres

In 1922, the Galerie Bernheim-Jeune commissioned Villon to produce a series of colour aquatints after 38 major nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings. Artists who were alive at the time of the printing collaborated with Villon and signed the prints, like in the case of our print. The project took ten years to complete.

Our work is after the painting by Maximilien Luce (executed in 1893), now in the Yale University Art Gallery (Ref.1983.53.2). Though the print is traditionally called “Londres” (London), the work depicts the banks of river Seine in Paris and most probably the view of the Palais de la Cité, with its distinctive Medieval towers.