Etchings of Paris; Title page to the suite

1852

Not on view

Charles Meryon was celebrated among artists and collectors alike during the nineteenth century for his etched depictions of Paris. These works combined a documentary eye on the French capital—which was then undergoing dramatic transformation from a medieval to distinctly modern city—with fantastic details that varied from the whimsical to the morbid. His first and best-known album, Eaux-fortes sur Paris, included twenty-two urban views inspired by the novels and poetry of Victor Hugo (1802–1885). This title page opened the series, and showed, as the art critic Philippe Burty described in his early monograph on Meryon, "a block of stone with fossils and moss imprints . . . symbolizing the physical foundations of Paris."

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Catalogue Raisonné

Title: Etchings of Paris; Title page to the suite
Series/Portfolio: Etchings of Paris
Artist: Charles Meryon (French, 1821–1868)
Date: 1852
Medium: Etching on brown wove paper; first state
Dimensions: plate: 6 1/2 x 4 15/16 in. (16.5 x 12.5 cm)
Classification: Prints
Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1963
Object Number: 63.606.11
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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By Charles Meryon

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From the same time and place

The Mortuary, Paris (La Morgue), Charles Meryon French, Etching and drypoint, third state of seven — The Mortuary, Paris (La Morgue)
Charles Meryon
1854

Ceramic Horn, Glazed pottery, French — Ceramic Horn
French
late 18th or early 19th century

Portrait of Louis Robert, Félix Bracquemond French, Etching on heavy wove paper; fourth state of four — Portrait of Louis Robert
Félix Bracquemond
Sitter Louis Robert
1873

Native Barns and Huts at Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, 1845, from "The Voyage to New Zealand (1842–46)", Charles Meryon French, Etching — Native Barns and Huts at Akaroa, Banks Peninsula, 1845, from "The Voyage to New Zealand (1842–46)"
Charles Meryon
1860

Osage Warrior, Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin French, Watercolor and graphite on off-white wove paper, American — Osage Warrior
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
1805–7

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