Size of sheet: 33 x 25 cm. Size of plate: 19.3 x 14.4 cm.

Edmond About was a French writer, journalist and art critic. A member of the French academy, he spent two years at the French school in Athens alongside Charles Garnier and travelled to Egypt in 1867-68. He was a fierce art critic and notably attempted to ridicule Courbet’s 'pretentious realism’.