Study of Three Goats, Antique Goupil Photogravure after a Drawing, circa 1880

A sheet of studies of goats, reproduced from a drawing. At upper left is the head of a horned goat seen from the front, its beard and long ears drawn with quick strokes. To the right a whole goat stands in profile, a collar and small bell at its throat, its shaggy coat and bony legs closely observed. Across the lower half a third goat lies at rest, head raised and turned to the left, again with a collar and pendant bell. Around them the paper is lightly worked with grass and ground.

The drawing has the directness of a study made from life, with each animal set down separately on the sheet rather than composed into a scene. A small monogram, read as "iD", sits in the lower right corner of the image; the draftsman is not otherwise named.

The plate was made and printed by Goupil and Cie of Paris, whose line "Photogravure & Imp. Goupil & Cie" appears at lower right. Alongside their reproductions of paintings, Goupil issued photogravures of drawings, which preserve the texture of chalk or pencil on paper.

Here the photogravure renders the grainy, soft-edged strokes of the original in a gray-green tone, so that the print reads very much like a drawing itself.

A charming choice for a kitchen, a country house or a cabinet of animal studies, and it would pair well with other drawings in a simple light wood or ebonized frame.

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