CAMILLE PISSARRO Paysage à l'Hermitage (Pontoise).
Drypoint and manière grise printed in black on cream laid paper, 1880. 110x123 mm; 4 3/8x5 inches, full margins. Third state (of 3). One of approximately only 19 lifetime impressions in this state, there were approximately only 20 lifetime impressions in all three states combined. Signed and inscribed "1er épreuve 2e état" in ink and "1ére épreuve--manière grise" in pencil, lower margin. A superb, richly-inked impression of this extremely scarce print, with crisp, inky plate edges and very strong contrasts.
Manière grise described a technique devised by Pissarro and Degas during the late 1870s that involved the use of a pencil-shaped emery stone rubbed against the metal etching plate in order to create a gray tone similar to fine-grained aquatint. Delteil 28.
