Until he met Georges William Thornley, Monet had evidenced no interest in making prints. Unlike Degas and Pissarro, who etched on copper and drew on stone or transfer paper, or Cézanne, Alfred Sisley and Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Monet either found printmaking too daunting or did not seek the public acclaim for his work that printmaking could provide. However, he was able to find a hospitable partner in Thornley. The most well-known collaborative print output from Monet and Thornley is L’Album de 20 lithographies d’apres les tableaux de Claude Monet, 1877-92, a portfolio of 20 prints modeled after Monet’s iconic paintings. This particular work is a later etching, modeled after one of the original collaborative prints.
