1889
From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
Swan and Duck is a 1889 by Berthe Morisot, a Impressionism work, held at Victoria and Albert Museum.
This print shows a swan and a duck swimming side by side in calm water. Soft lines create gentle ripples around them. The swan’s long neck and the duck’s round body stand out against the simple background. Morisot used drypoint, a printmaking trick where she scratched lines into a metal plate. The scratches hold ink, making the image look like quick pencil sketches. This method gives the scene a light, airy feel. Look up Moriset, Berthe if you want to see more of her work.
The drypoint *Swan and Duck* by Berthe Morisot features overlapping studies of a swan and a duck alongside faint sketches of a girl's head. Created around 1887–88, the print is part of a small group of etchings produced at the encouragement of Mary Cassatt and Stéphane Mallarmé. Though initially intended as preliminary studies, later research suggests most were copies of Morisot’s earlier works in other media. The impressions in the V&A’s collection were printed posthumously by Ambroise Vollard in 1921 from plates likely not meant for public display.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot (French: ; 14 January 1841 – 2 March 1895) was a French painter, printmaker and a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists.
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