Arms, John Taylor. LACE IN STONE - ROUEN CATHEDRAL. Fletcher 200. Etching, 1927. Edition of 100, this copy incscribed "personal proof" by the artist in pencil. 14 1/16 x 11 1/4 inches; 357 x 289 mm. Signed in pencil. One of Arms's "Preferred Plates." Despite the incredible detailing of this work, and the technical tour de force it represents, the overall impression is one of romantic lightness. An extraordinary achievement. In excellent condition. "The Tour de Beurre, of the cathedral, which lifts its delicate head far above the workaday, noisy world, was a natural choice, and the view which J. T. selected, looking up the narrow Rue d'Epicerie, showed this tower, the south transept and the much discussed iron spire above the crossing." Dorothy Noyes Arms, Churches of France, Macmillan, NY, 1929, p. 48. Mrs. Arms goes on to recount that the artist's only vantage point from which to make the drawing was on a traffic island in the middle of the main street, that he had to go to the Chief of Police to get permission, that the Chief was an admirer of his work and already owned two of his etchings, and that the drawing was completed in five days.
