Une fausse note." Original etching and aquatint engraving

[Paris]: L'Atelier d'Art, 1904. Image size 220 x 181 mm, sheet size 360 x 278. On laid paper.

A man holds music and sings while a woman in the background covers her ears. Signed "Vierge" in the plate, with "Daniel Vierge del. et sc." and "Imprimé par L'Atelier d'Art" beneath image along with titling.

Plate 40 in the series L'Eau-forte, published in Paris between 1903 and 1904.

From the collection of the distinguished American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne (b. 1934).

Slightly worn and browned at edges; remnants of tape to upper margin; hinge mount to verso. Spanish printmaker and painter Daniel Vierge is often referred to as "the father of modern illustration" for his contributions to the technique of image reproduction. He came to Paris in 1869 from Madrid and began working for major periodicals such as Le Monde Illustre and La Vie Moderne. During the 1870s, Vierge provided hundreds of illustrations to editions of Victor Hugo and histories of France. The masterpiece of Vierge's artistic genius is his set of 257 images to Don Quixote, published posthumously in a limited four-volume edition (Scribners, 1906).

"Horne had a voice of extraordinary range, rich and tangy in timbre, with a stentorian chest register and an exciting top... In concert she once achieved the feat of singing in a single programme Rossini arias and Brünnhilde's Immolation Scene, proof of her exceptional versatility. Throughout her lengthy career she was an admired recitalist, singing lieder, mélodies, Spanish and American songs with equal aplomb." Alan Blyth in Grove Music Online.