The Market at Gisors: Rue Cappeville

"The Market at Gisors: Rue Cappeville," created by Camille Pissarro between 1894 and 1895, is a significant color print executed using etching and drypoint on laid paper. Pissarro dedicated much of his later career to exploring printmaking, often translating his Impressionist sensibilities into complex graphic processes that allowed for subtle tonal variations. This specific impression is noteworthy as it represents the seventh and final state of the plate, indicating the detailed technical progression required to achieve the desired effect in the finished work. Although the plate was completed by the artist, this final state was printed posthumously.

The work vividly captures the bustling activity of a provincial French marketplace. Pissarro frames the scene tightly, focusing on the dense crowd of shoppers and vendors moving between the sturdy, slightly weathered buildings lining Rue Cappeville. His characteristic use of broken line and color in this piece successfully conveys the shifting light and dynamic energy of the market day. As one of the mature works of the artist’s career, this print reflects Pissarro's ongoing commitment to documenting modern public life, focusing on the interactions and energy inherent in French urban and semi-urban settings.

This exceptional example of Pissarro’s late prints showcases his mastery of line and tone in the etching process. The work is held in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it serves as a key reference for the study of 19th-century French graphic arts. Because much of the artist's later output is now in the public domain, images of works like The Market at Gisors: Rue Cappeville remain accessible references for scholars and art enthusiasts worldwide.