Camille Pissarro (1830-1903 )Peasant woman carrying a basket. About 1900. Letterpress etching on zinc. 125 x 115 [222 x 287]. Delteil not described; Cailac (revised edition of Delteil, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1999) 196. Interesting and extremely rare trial print from the verso of a page of Punch dated September 1885, bearing a printed cartoon. Monogrammed "C. P." in pencil in the subject at the bottom left. Light foxing and traces of folding. Traces of old adhesive pieces oxidized in the corners at the head on the reverse (showing through on the front). Small annotations in pencil at foot. All margins. This subject was unknown to Delteil. Cailac describes it without reproducing it. He cites "two curious proofs of metal engravings in relief" (this subject and another, entitled Paysanne sous un arbre, Cailac 195) which appeared at the sale of Pissarro's studio, directed by J. Cailac. The technique was developed by Lucien Pissarro, in collaboration with his father: more familiar with woodcutting, the son sought a way to print the etching on a letterpress, the drawing being in relief on the plate, and the metal hollowed out. "The drawing with the varnish was done by Camille but [the plate] was bitten by Lucien who would have prepared his father for this method. On the varnish, a grain of resin was put which strengthened it, but also made the drawing coarser [...] It is possible that this research dates from the holidays that Lucien spent in Éragny in July-August 1895, and during which the plans for working together for the Travaux des champs took shape..." (Catalogue of the exhibition at the Bibliothèque nationale, 1974, quoted by J. Cailac).