From the 347 Series

MediumOriginal etching and aquatint on Rives BFK paper, signed by the artist in pencil.

Edition
8/50
There was also 1 BAT and 17 Artist's Proofs.

Published byGalerie Louise Leiris, Paris

Printed byCrommelynck Frères, France

References
Bloch 1656
Baer 1673 Bb1
Orozco 2534

Public CollectionsMetropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Created on 13 April 1968, Jeune prostituée et mousquetaire forms part of Picasso's celebrated 347 Series, one of the most ambitious and imaginative printmaking projects of his later career.

Produced over a period of just seven months between March and October 1968, the series comprises 347 etchings through which Picasso explored themes of theatre, sexuality, memory, literature, history and artistic identity. Working at an astonishing pace at the age of eighty-six, Picasso demonstrated a creative vitality that challenged conventional ideas about artistic ageing.

This etching belongs to a group of works centred on the musketeer, a figure that would become one of the defining motifs of Picasso's final years.

In Jeune prostituée et mousquetaire, Picasso stages an encounter between two recurring characters from his late graphic work. The young woman and the musketeer appear as participants in a theatrical drama, observed through Picasso's expressive and economical line.

The contrast between youth and age, innocence and experience, beauty and desire creates an underlying psychological tension. Yet the image is not moralising. Instead, Picasso treats the scene with humour, curiosity and a sense of theatrical play.

The combination of etching and aquatint allows Picasso to balance linear precision with areas of tonal richness. The result is a composition that feels spontaneous and immediate while remaining technically sophisticated.

The 347 Series is filled with actors, artists, courtesans, musketeers, lovers and historical characters. These figures inhabit a world where reality, memory and fantasy merge together.

The musketeer emerged as one of Picasso's most important late symbols. Inspired partly by the paintings of Velázquez, Rembrandt and Frans Hals, the musketeer represents a romanticised alter ego through which Picasso could reflect upon masculinity, creativity, ageing and desire.

The young prostitute is another recurring figure within the late prints. Rather than serving as a specific individual, she becomes part of Picasso's wider exploration of human relationships, performance and eroticism.

Together the pair create a scene that feels both historical and contemporary, comic and profound.

The 347 Series occupies a unique position within Picasso's career. Created in the final years of his life, the works reveal an artist unconcerned with critical expectations and working with complete creative freedom.

Many of the images draw upon Spanish literature, Old Master painting, theatre and the history of printmaking. The result is a body of work that combines technical mastery with extraordinary imaginative range.

The late etchings demonstrate Picasso's continued fascination with storytelling and the human figure, themes that had remained central to his work for more than seven decades.

By 1968 Picasso was one of the most famous artists in the world. Yet rather than slowing down, he entered one of the most productive periods of his entire career.

Living in Mougins in the South of France, Picasso devoted himself increasingly to printmaking. Working closely with the master printers Aldo and Piero Crommelynck, he found in etching a medium capable of matching the speed and freedom of his imagination.

The 347 Series stands as a remarkable testament to this late creative surge and to Picasso's refusal to become constrained by age or reputation.

The musketeer became Picasso's great late-life invention. Distinguished by broad-brimmed hats, flowing hair and flamboyant costumes, these figures appear throughout the final decade of his work.

Art historians often interpret the musketeer as a surrogate for Picasso himself. Through these theatrical characters, the artist could revisit themes of romance, artistic creation and personal memory while engaging with the traditions of European painting.

Today the musketeer images are among the most sought-after works from Picasso's later years.

The 347 Series is represented in major museum collections throughout the world and is recognised as one of the most important achievements of Picasso's final decade.

Individual prints from the series are held by institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and numerous international collections dedicated to modern printmaking.

The series has been the subject of extensive scholarly study and remains a cornerstone of Picasso's graphic legacy.

Printed by the renowned Crommelynck Frères workshop, the etching demonstrates the exceptional collaboration between Picasso and the master printers who helped realise his late graphic projects.

The combination of etching and aquatint allows Picasso to create both delicate linear passages and rich tonal effects. This technical flexibility was particularly important to the expressive and theatrical nature of the 347 Series.

The 347 Series is often viewed as Picasso's final great narrative cycle. Unlike the structured mythology of the Vollard Suite, the series unfolds as a vast and unpredictable theatre of characters, references and inventions.

The works reveal an artist reflecting upon the history of art, his own life and the enduring themes of human desire and creativity. The musketeer images have become particularly important within this context, serving as powerful symbols of Picasso's late artistic identity.

Pablo Picasso transformed the course of modern art more profoundly than any other artist of the twentieth century. His innovations in painting, sculpture, ceramics and printmaking reshaped artistic practice and continue to influence generations of artists.

His late works demonstrate that creative reinvention remained central to his character throughout his life. The 347 Series stands as evidence of an artist whose imagination remained undiminished even in his ninth decade.

Picasso's late prints have attracted increasing attention from collectors and institutions over the past two decades. The 347 Series is particularly valued because it represents one of the artist's last major printmaking achievements and contains many of his most recognisable late themes.

Signed impressions from small editions remain especially desirable, combining rarity, historical significance and direct connection to Picasso's hand.

Jeune prostituée et mousquetaire is a compelling example of Picasso's late graphic work, combining one of his most celebrated motifs, the musketeer, with the theatrical storytelling that defines the 347 Series.

With its small edition of only fifty impressions, strong catalogue raisonné references and publication by Galerie Louise Leiris, the work represents an important opportunity to acquire a museum-quality example from one of the most inventive periods of Picasso's career.

Works presented by Dantzig Gallery are selected for their art historical significance, provenance and enduring cultural relevance.