Bleriot crosing the Channel, 25 July 1909.

Coloured lithograph by Ernest Montaut (1879- 1909) of the first Channel crosing by aeroplane. Shows Louis Bleriot (1872-1936) flying from Calais, France, to Dover, England, in a small 25 hp monoplane called 'Blurt XI'. Montaut and his wife, Marguerite, were the first artists to capture the Heroic Age of aviation and motor racing. They were receptive to innovations in transport and in technique. The Gamy-Montaut prints were produced by the pochoir proces, in which the outlines for each image were drawn onto lithographic stones and printed. The prints were then painstakingly coloured using individual colour stencils. She carried on producing pictures for Mabileau & Co after the death of her husband.