Late 19thc Etching, The Kind Confessor

Original late 19th Century ( 1892 ) etching by C. Courtry " The Kind Confessor" also known as "The Good Pastor" from the original painting by Edourad Zamacois y Zabala ( Madrid Spain, 1841 - 1871 ). 7" X 9 3/4" displayed within portfolio. The Kind Confessor " variously known as " The Good Pastor " & " Rival Confessors " is one of the best-known paintings of one of the most eminent Spanish painters of the latter half of the century. By birth, Zamacois was a Spaniard but by education he belongs to the French school, & was, in fact, a pupil of Meissonier. Although he usually selected subjects attuned to his racial feelings, he was nevertheless regarded in his native country as something of an alien. A past master of the craft of painting, he was essentially a man of wit—a satirist, a Thackeray who worked with the brush instead of with a pen. A " literary " painter par excellence, he probably equalled his master in his power of the brush & the resources of his art; and it might be added, had he possessed a sense of poetry equal in degree to his sense of humour, he might have taken his place among the first painters of this age.