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Camille Pissarro (1831-1903), Rue Saint-Romain, à Rouen, 2nd Plate, 1896, signed, titled and inscribed No. 1 in pencil. Reference: Delteil 177, first state (of 2). In very good condition, with full margins, 7 1/2 x 5 1/2, the sheet 13 3/4 x 10 1/4 inches.
Provenance: unknown collector, with stamp (ES within a square) verso (Lugt 3498).
A fine fresh impression of this great rarity, printed on a cream wove paper.
This is one of only two proofs Pissarro made of the first state, each of which was numbered (1 and 2) titled and signed. In the second state Pissarro had about a dozen proofs pulled, of which five were signed and numbered. Later a small posthumous edition of 6 was made, which was stamped and numbered.
In the second state of this print Pissarro removed much of the sky, lightened the street, took out the cart on the street and the woman toward the right, and made other small changes. But it is possible he was not satisfied with this second state (which looks unfinished, as opposed to our first state, which is a fine coherent composition), for he made another (third) plate of the same subject shortly thereafter in a small edition (10), and even made a fourth plate just after that one (printed in only 2 lifetime impressions).
