Printing work on paper for the printing preparation of the linocut edition (inking test or ink roller cleaning before the passage of another color). Picasso’s dealer Kahnweiler explained ‘One of Picasso’s notable characteristics was his need to transform existing works of art, to compose “variations on a theme”, as it were. His point of departure was often simply a reproduction in a book or even a postcard such as Cranach the Younger’s Portrait of a Woman [1564]. Among other things, what struck him in particular about this painting was the way the woman’s shadow “rhymes” with the upper part of her body. This need to transform was certainly an important characteristic of Picasso’s genius. (Photos on request)