The Black Silk Dress (Anaïs)

Hailed as a "young Botticelli", Brockhurst studied carefully the work of the Italian renaissance artists. He excelled at portraits of women as in this example of his wife who poses for him in an elaborate dress and flamboyant hat in the manner of a fifteenth-century aristocrat, a perfect excuse to display his talent and skill at producing precise lines and meticulous modeling. He taught himself etching and regarded each of his prints as an experiment. These "experiments," rich in virtuoso detail and arabesques, helped to extend the etching revival well into the twentieth century.