Basket-peddlers at the Porte du Compas-d’Or rue Montorgueil, (Marchands au panier sous la Porte du Compas-d’Or, rue Montorgueuil)

Description

Both in its peasant subject matter and in its simplified style, LepÇre's print of basket sellers is indebted to Millet's woodcuts, which themselves emulated the rough effects of early woodcuts of the 15th century. By the late 1880s, when Lepére designed this print, Millet's works had lost their revolutionary effect, and were praised by critics.From the technical point of view, "Basket Peddlers" is a hybrid: it is a wood engraving done in the manner of a chiaroscuro woodcut. Lepére used end grain blocks typical of wood engraving (as opposed to the side grain blocks used in woodcut). Instead of using a graver to cut fine lines, he used a knife to create energetic effects, as in a woodcut. As in the chiaroscuro woodcut technique, which dates from the Renaissance, Lepére used separate blocks to print successively on a single sheet. Such color prints imitated the restricted tonal quality of monochromatic wash drawings heightened with white on colored paper.