Giclée prints from Le Morte d'Arthur
Acquire giclée prints of Francoise Taylor's original engravings
In 1948, the Belgian artist and book illustrator Francoise Taylor created a series of eighteen engraved illustrations for Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. The result was an outstanding and uniquely expressive pictorial characterisation of scenes from the story, winning her a prestigeous Masters Degree in Book Illustration. The quality and artistic beauty of the engravings is such that original editions of the full series were acquired for the permanent collections of the Cabinet des Estampes in Brussels and the Cabinet des Estampes in Paris, and other editions were acquired by private collectors in England during the early 1950's.
An unknown quantity of (but probably less than ten) editions of the original 1948 engravings were printed at the time in London. The artist still has in her possession a very few of each picture, varying in number from two copies of some, to five of others, together with a handful of original proofs - the "master" copper plates have, of course, long since been destroyed.
Francoise Taylor's engravings for Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur aren't really book illustrations at all. The artist didn't create them with any particular publication of Le Morte d'Arthur in mind, and the pictures are far too large and finely detailed to fit on the pages of a book. Their description as "book illustrations" is nominal; they are fine-art pieces in their own right: inspired by Thomas Malory's story, but they are, without doubt, art for art's sake.
Her longstanding personal attachment to the Morte d'Arthur series has meant that for over fifty years Francoise Taylor has preferred not to part with those she still owns, nor has she felt motivated to obtain further printed reproductions for general sale as open-editions.
When in her 80's, she decided to make reproductions economically available to anyone who admires the original engravings or is a collector of original Arthuriana. Twelve of the eighteen Le Morte d'Arthur engravings have been reproduced as high quality open-edition giclée prints. They are the same size as the originals, and the modern giclée process has delivered outstanding definition on 190 gm/sq.m watercolour paper.
Born on 1st January 1920, after a long and creative life, Francoise Taylor died at home in the North of England on 24th January 2007.
No other established professional fine-artist in the world has produced a series of stand-alone artworks inspired by Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur since the early part of the twentieth century. With their intense and enigmatic beauty and originality of style, Francoise Taylor's Arthurian engravings are unique.
If you are interested in acquiring one or more superb giclée prints of the original engravings, please contact me through this website's feedback page, making sure you provide your contact details.
Patrick Taylor, Arthurian Legend webmaster
Arthurian Legend • Le Morte d'Arthur • Pictures • Francoise Taylor
Click here to say what you think about Arthurian Legend
Read a summary of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur
Copyright © 2004-2007