Etching and drypoint on cream laid paper, 1878. 376x208 mm; 14 3/4x8 3/8 inches, full margins. Edition of approximately 100. A superb, dark and early impression with strong contrasts.
The sitter is Kathleen "Kate" Newton (1854-1882), Tissot's Irish muse and mistress from 1871-82. Tissot (1836-1902) portrayed her as a personification of summer in this etching. Tragically, Newton contracted tuberculosis and, unable to fight the disease and bear witness of Tissot's mounting grief, overdosed on laudanum in November 1882. Tissot reportedly sat by her coffin for four days before giving her up for burial. Wentworth 43.
