Meryon was the first nineteenth-century French etcher to make the Parisian cityscape his primary focus. This is one of several preparatory drawings that he made for an etching of the same title, as part of his suite of twenty-two prints entitled "Eaux-fortes sur Paris" (Etchings on Paris). With a precise graphite line, Meryon recorded the main architectural features of the Palais de Justice with its clock tower as well as the Conciergerie behind; both buildings are part of the complex of law courts at the center of Paris. He omitted anecdotal details, but the inscription at the top of the sheet describes the barge that later appeared in the etching.
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Artwork Details
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Title:The Clock Tower
Artist:Charles Meryon (French, 1821–1868)
Date:ca. 1852
Medium:Graphite with red chalk on laid paper (a narrow strip added at right)
Dimensions:14 1/2 x 10 3/8 in. (36.8 x 26.4 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1919
Object Number:19.41
La Tour de l'Horloge
Inscription: Upper right, in graphite: hv. hauteur de voiture / p. pierres de tailles posées en massifs pour construction; upper margin, in graphite: bateau monté par 10 hommes / 5 devant, 5 derrière, nageant les avirons dans le sens de la quille et armés sur les traverses de l'avant et de l'arrière; at upper left corner of image, in ink: A. Verso, in graphite: J.J. Heywood 18...1; initialled, l.l., in graphite:N
Marking: Verso: stamped B.M. [in a square] (Lugt 394)
Rev. J. J. Heywood (British); B. Bernard McGeorge; Vendor: Knoedler and Co. (French, British, American)
M. Knoedler & Co. "Etchings and Drawings by Charles Meryon from the B. B. MacGeorge Collection".
Knoedler and Co. New York. "Etchings and Drawings by Charles Meryon from the B. B. MacGeorge Collection,".
Lyman Allyn Art Museum. "Fourth Anniversary Exhibition: Drawings," March 2, 1936–April 15, 1936.
Musée de la Marine. "Charles Meryon, Officier de Marine, Peintre-Graveur, 1821-1868, Paris, Musée de Marine, October 1968-January 1969," October 1968–January 1969.
Saint Louis Art Museum. "Charles Meryon Prints and Drawings," 1973-1974.
Yale University Art Gallery. "Charles Meryon Prints and Drawings," 1973-1974.
Toledo Museum of Art. "Charles Meryon Prints and Drawings," 1973-1974.
Paris. Cabinet des dessins, Musée du Louvre. "Dessins français du Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York de David à Picasso," October 25, 1973–January 7, 1974.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings, Prints and Photographs: A Selection," July 25–September 10, 1989.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints: Rembrandt," April 30–July 28, 2019.
A Catalogue of Etchings and Drawings by Charles Meryon Exh. cat., Grolier Club, New York. New York, 1898, cat. no. 120.
Loys Delteil Le Peintre-Graveur Illustré: Charles Meryon. Paris, 1907, cat. no. 28.
William A. Bradley "Some Meryon Drawings in the MacGeorge Collection" Print Collector's Quarterly. vol. 7, 1917, 231–32 and 238–40.
Michel Benisovich "The French Drawings of the Metropolitan Museum." The Burlington Magazine. vol. 82, London, March 1943, fig. no. pl. II D, pp. 73-74, ill.
Charles Meryon, Officier de Marine, Peintre-Graveur, 1821-1868. Catalogue edited by Jean Ducros, Paris, Musée de la Marine, October 1968-January 1969, cat. no. 717, ill.
Jacob Bean, Linda Boyer Gillies, Cynthia Lambros, Roseline Bacou, Réunion des Musées Nationaux Dessins français du Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: de David à Picasso 54th Exposition de Cabinet des Dessins Musée du Louvre, 25 octobre 1973–7 janvier 1974. Paris, 1973, cat. no. 62, ill.
Charles Meryon Prints and Drawings. Exh. cat., Toledo, Toledo Museum of Art; New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery; St. Louis, St. Louis Art Museum. 1973-1974, cat. no. 30, p. 51, ill.
Charles Meryon, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag Paris um 1850. Zeichnungen, Radierungen, Photographien. Exh. cat., Frankfurt, Städtische Galerie; Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle; The Hague, Haags Gemeentemuseum. Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Hamburg, The Hague, 1976, cat. no. Z 13, fig. no. pl. 55, ill.
Richard S. Schneiderman The Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints of Charles Meryon. London, 1990, cat. no. 23, p. 41.
Roger Collins Charles Meryon: A Life. Devizes, 1999, p. 132.
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