Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (La Reine Élisabeth de Belgique)

The paper’s warm, slightly yellowed tone and handmade edges enhance the work’s historic character, while the overall composition remains restrained and linear.

Besnard employed traditional intaglio methods, incising fine, textured lines into a copper plate before transferring the image onto laid paper. The resulting scratches create a tactile surface, with stark contrasts between deep shadows and delicate highlights. The paper’s warm, slightly yellowed tone and handmade edges enhance the work’s historic character, while the overall composition remains restrained and linear.

Created in the midst of the First World War, the etching was likely produced for commemorative or diplomatic distribution. It entered public collections through a mid‑twentieth‑century acquisition by a European museum, where it remains catalogued as part of Besnard’s portrait series. No further ownership changes are recorded in the available documentation.