MORTIMER MENPES (BRITISH 1855-1938)
Abbazia, Venice
etching
signed (lower right)
22 x 31cm

Menpes was born in Port Adelaide, South Australia, His parents returning to England in 1866. After a sketching tour of Brittany in 1880, he met James McNeill Whistler. He became Whistler's pupil and shared a flat with him at Cheyne Walk on the Chelsea Embankment in London. He was taught etching by Whistler, whose influence, together with that of Japanese design, is evident in his later work. Menpes became a major figure in the etching revival, producing more than seven hundred different etchings and drypoints, which he usually printed himself. In 1886 he agreed to stand as the godfather to his friend Oscar Wilde's son Vyvyan