Les voisins de campagne

A very fine impression – indicated by the small red owl stamp in the lower right corner – of the image with sketches in both left and right margins. The addition of the artist’s stylised owl stamp frequently designates what Buhot himself considered to be a special impression. The words 'épreuve d’artiste' (artist’s proof) (underneath the stamp) must, as is often the case with Buhot’s inscriptions, be taken with a grain of salt: the print is not strictly a working proof at all but a fully realised impression intended for exhibition. When this print was exhibited in 1880, along with many of his most important works from previous years, L’art et les artistes art critic proclaimed that Buhot had ‘ensured one of the most important places in the history of etching. He is truly one of the moderns’.