
Unwilling to take any chances with his etched masterpiece The Upper Part of a Door Panel (Mia P.1, 809), Bracquemond prepared a detailed drawing for the crow featured in the upper left. Because Mia’s study matches the etched version so closely, it was most likely the final model for the print. Bracquemond made this work when he was nineteen years old. He expressed his pleasure in it with an elegant monogram and the precise date, “19 Septembre 1852.”