An original etching by renowned French artist Leon Augustin Lhermitte (1844-1925)..

It depicts a lady standing in the doorway of a butcher's shop, another lady stands behind the wooden counter and is weighing meat on her scales, other cuts hanging behind her.

The title is not given but it is 'La Boucherie'  (The Butchers Shop).  

Signed in the plate lower right.

Published circa 1880-1890.   Printed on wove paper and in very good condition, just a little toning in the margins, conducive with age.   Unframed and no sign of having been framed previously.

The sheet measures 32 x 26cm, the plate is 24 x 20, the image only 17 x 16.5cm.

Postage free in the UK, £6 to mainland Europe and £10 to the USA.  

Rare, another impression is held in the Welcome Collection where the date is given as 1881.

Leon Auguste Lhermitte was the son of a school teacher in Paris. He showed artistic ability at an early age and studied at the Ecole Imperiale de Dessain.  This was followed by a period working as a commercial illustrator whilst working on his own drawings and paintings which most often depicted scenes of people going about their everyday working life. His first exhibition was at the Salon de Paris in 1864 from which he went on to exhibit extensively in France and also in Germany and the UK. He won much recognition for his work and was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 1884, becaming a Commandeur in 1911. 

Examples of his work are held in many institutional collections in France, the UK, USA and Germany.