Large limited edition etching by Valerie Thornton. Aquatint, signed and numbered 45/50 in pencil. Valerie Thornton was an internationally recognised etcher and print-maker, whose etchings were said by John Rothenstein, Director at the Tate Gallery, London, from 1938 to 1964, and the brother of Michael Rothenstein, to have an almost sculpted presence. Although she tended to be more figurative at the end of her life, she was mainly interested in architectural features such as the texture of flint, brick and stone, merging in weathered walls. This is the case here in this etching of buildings in Vezeley. Vezeley is and 11th Century hilltop commune in France. Valerie Genestra Marion Thornton was born in London but evacuated to Canada with her two brothers during World War II. She returned to London in 1944 and went on to study at the Byam Shaw School of Art in 1949. From 1950 to 1953 Thornton studied under P.F. Millard at the Regent Street Polytechnic, then spent eight months at Atelier 17 in Paris. In the early 1960s she moved to New York and worked at Pratt Graphic Art Center. In 1965 she became a founding member of the Print Makers Council and in 1970 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Painters-Etchers and Engravers. Thornton's work is included in a number of major public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the Tate and others. Thornton died in 1991 in Chelsworth, Suffolk. Thornton was a member of The Regent Street Group - a group of nine artists who studied together at the Regent Street Polytechnic in the early 1950s. The group also included Susan Horsfield, Renate Meyer, Michael Lewis, Ken Symonds, Philip Le Bas and Peter Riches.