Portrait of Paul Lacroix, Antique Etching by Adolphe Lalauze, 1882

An original antique etching, the portrait of the French historian Paul Lacroix, the Bibliophile Jacob, etched by Adolphe Lalauze as the frontispiece of Louis XII et Anne de Bretagne, published in Paris by Georges Hurtrel in 1882. The plate shows Lacroix half length in a dark coat, a pleated waistcoat and a loose black tie, his white hair swept back and his gaze turned to the left, against a densely etched dark ground. His own signature, reading Paul Lacroix (bibl. Jacob), is reproduced in facsimile below the image, inside the plate mark.

Paul Lacroix, 1806 to 1884, known to readers as the Bibliophile Jacob, was one of the great popularizers of medieval and Renaissance France in the nineteenth century. Louis XII et Anne de Bretagne, his chronicle of the reign of Louis XII and his queen, was published in Paris by Georges Hurtrel in 1882, illustrated with fourteen chromolithographs and fifteen large plates reproducing manuscripts, portraits and objects of the time.

Adolphe Lalauze, 1838 to 1906, was a prolific French etcher and book illustrator of the later nineteenth century, and his credit, A. Lalauze sc., appears at the lower left with that of the publisher, G. Hurtrel, Ed., in the center. The plate was printed in black ink, uncolored, by A. Salmon of Paris, whose imprint is at the lower right. Lacroix died in 1884, two years after the book appeared. The portrait suits a library or a study, and it belongs in any collection of French nineteenth century etchings or of portraits of writers and bibliophiles.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Several larger brown marks.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.