Charles Meryon (1821-1868), Le Rue des Toiles a Bourges, etching, 1853 [signed and inscribed in the plate]. Reference: Schneiderman 31, Delteil 55. Fifth state (of 9) In very good condition with only the slightest toning, with wide/full margins, on an ivory laid D&C Blauw paper, with their watermark. 8 1/2 x 4 5/8, the sheet 13 x 8 7/8 inches; archival matting.

A very fine early impression of this intermediate state, several states before publication, printed in a dark brown/black ink.

Provenance: Dr. William Pelletier, with his stamp and date of purchase (1991) entered verso. Dr. Pelletier was a distinguished collector of Meryon, Van Ostade and Rembrandt prints.

In this state the composition of the print is basically set, but a number of changes were still unmade. The inscription at the bottom (signature, date and address), added in the third state, are here covered with an etching line; in the next state these inscriptions were removed. The date on the chimney (1853), entered in the first state, is half effaced; it will be removed in the next state. The little dog in the roadway will be removed in the next state, and later replaced by a soldier in a medieval outfit talking with two women.

Meryon took great interest in medieval architecture, and in a letter to his father noted that he needed to re-construct the bottom sections of these houses because they had been modernized; Meryon found other houses in Bourges with details that would work with these 14th and 15th Century houses on La Rue des Toiles.

$2250

Detail

]]> http://harrisschrank.com/le-rue-des-toiles-a-bourges.htm/feed 0 http://harrisschrank.com/la-morgue-4th-state.htm http://harrisschrank.com/la-morgue-4th-state.htm#comments Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:39:11 +0000 Harris Schrank http://harrisschrank.com/?p=2772 Charles Meryon 1821-1868), La Morgue, etching, fourth state (of 7), printed in brown/black ink,  Schneiderman 42 [with the inscription, date, address in the plate]. In very good condition, with margins (several nicks at margin edges, remains of prior hinging verso, tiny loss left margin edge, bottom right corner).  9 x 8 1/8 inches, the sheet 10 13/16 x 9 1/2 inches. Provenance: Sir John Day (his blindstamp recto lower left, Lugt 526) C.W. Dowdeswell, 36 Chancery Lane, London  (stamp verso, Lugt 690) Arthur Hahlo and Company A fine, richly inked  impression, printed on thin laid paper in a dark brown/black [...]]]>

Charles Meryon 1821-1868), La Morgue, etching, fourth state (of 7), printed in brown/black ink,  Schneiderman 42 [with the inscription, date, address in the plate]. In very good condition, with margins (several nicks at margin edges, remains of prior hinging verso, tiny loss left margin edge, bottom right corner).  9 x 8 1/8 inches, the sheet 10 13/16 x 9 1/2 inches.

Provenance:

Sir John Day (his blindstamp recto lower left, Lugt 526)

C.W. Dowdeswell, 36 Chancery Lane, London  (stamp verso, Lugt 690)

Arthur Hahlo and Company

A fine, richly inked  impression, printed on thin laid paper in a dark brown/black ink.

Meryon personally printed the impressions of this state (he printed all the impressions of The Morgue up to state 6 himself).  In this impression he has left a delicate layer of plate tone throughout, but has wiped the plate slightly more on the central third of the plate.

The Morgue is one of the Meryon’s greatest achievements, and a landmark in 19th Century printmaking. It was done as part of Meryon’s program of creating etchings of some of the wonderful architectural landmarks of Paris that had remained essentially untouched through the years, but that were likely to be demolished or moved. (The morgue, moved after the etching was made, stood on the Ile de la Cite; it was built in 1568, and was formerly an abbatoir.) The superimposed roofs, the collision of angles, the striking contrasts of shadows all create an aesthetic excitement that was new to the art of its time, and eventually became recognized as an early expression of modernism, presaging cubism, and even precisionism. The composition has a mysterious quality – not only because of its subject matter, but because of the extraordinary mood Meryon achieves through the interplay of lights and shapes.

Detail

]]> http://harrisschrank.com/la-morgue.htm/feed 0 http://harrisschrank.com/le-pont-au-change-2.htm http://harrisschrank.com/le-pont-au-change-2.htm#comments Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:18:07 +0000 Harris Schrank http://harrisschrank.com/?p=2680 Charles Meryon (1821-1868), Le Pont au Change, 1854, etching. Reference: Schneiderman 40, fifth state (of 12) [with the signature, date and address in the plate in the margin below]. On old laid paper with a Crowned Shield with Letters HP watermark. In very good condition, with wide margins (bottom left corner tip thin area, possibly restored), 6 1/8 x 13 1/8, the sheet 8 3/4 x 15 3/8 inches, archival mounting (non-attached mylar hinging within acid free window mat). A very fine early impression, printed in a brownish/black ink, printed delicately with only a touch of plate tone in the watery foreground and the [...]]]> Charles Meryon (1821-1868), Le Pont au Change, 1854, etching. Reference: Schneiderman 40, fifth state (of 12) [with the signature, date and address in the plate in the margin below]. On old laid paper with a Crowned Shield with Letters HP watermark. In very good condition, with wide margins (bottom left corner tip thin area, possibly restored), 6 1/8 x 13 1/8, the sheet 8 3/4 x 15 3/8 inches, archival mounting (non-attached mylar hinging within acid free window mat).

A very fine early impression, printed in a brownish/black ink, printed delicately with only a touch of plate tone in the watery foreground and the details printing with precision throughout.

From a point of view at water level we can see the Pompe de Notre Dame (the old water pump) beyond the bridge, and the Palais de Justice and Tour de Horloge on the Isle de la Cite at the right. In the water a man, presumably drowning, reaches toward a boat, but those in the boat are turned in the other direction, looking toward the balloon marked Speranza (hope) in the sky. On the bridge a hearse and a parade of mourners walk toward the left, as a group of soldiers at the far left marches toward them.

Meryon made a few changes in the figures and clouds in the next state (the 6th), and removed the balloon in the seventh state; then, in 1859-60 he famously added a flock of huge birds to the sky – this was variously interpreted as the result of the influence of Poe (The Raven), or as evidence of Meryon’s continuing mental instability after his stay at the institution Clarenton; and of course there were other possibilities. Indeed, the meanings of the print in this earlier state – the ironies of the conjunction of the balloon Speranza, the drowning man and those turning away from him, and the funereal procession, for example – have been the subject of much speculation as well.

It is however indisputable that Le Pont au Change, particularly in this early state,  is one of the most dramatic and beautiful of Meryon’s compositions, and a great icon of mid-19th Century printmaking.

$11,000

Charles Meryon (1821-1868), Rue des Chantres, Paris, etching, 1862. Before letters. Reference: Delteil 17, Schneiderman 85. Fourth state (of 6). In very good condition, printed on a grey/ivory laid paper, with margins, 11 3/4 x 5 7/8, the sheet 13 1/8 x 7 5/8 inches.

A fine impression of this print, rare in this state before letters and before the edition.

The first four states of Rue des Chantres were printed by Meryon, in very small numbers; then in the fifth state an edition of 100 impressions was printed by Delatre, with the title, address, date in the margin below.

In this fourth state the bells and cartouche with the initials JB are added at the top; a dolphin is added to spire of Notre Dame, and some other small changes were added. In this impression the figure of the tiny dolphin is quite distinct, although Schneiderman notes that this figure is not very distinct. This suggests that this impression is an early one; in the later states this tiny dolphin wears away and is replaced by a weathercock.

This narrow street is filled with people: some soldiers possibly brawling with two policeman in their midst; a woman carrying bread, with a child; a howling dog. As in so many of Meryon’s prints, a spire of Notre Dame rises in the distance.

This is a composite view, based on separate drawings of the street which Meryon later aligned for the etching.

$2500

With a red inked monogram lower right margin, possibly that of Phillip Burty (cf. Lugt 2071), an eminent collector of Meryon prints and author of an early Meryon catalogue.

A very fine proof impression, rare in this early lifetime state. Of the 12 impressions printed in this state, 6 are recorded in museum collections.

In this state the words “Bain Froid Chevrier” were added to the tiny billboard.  After printing the 12 impressions in this state Meryon added lettering below, an extensive verse, his monogram upper center and a few drypoint lines for the later final state which was published in a number of lifetime and also posthumous impressions.

The Ban-Froid Chevrier was one of the floating cold water baths and swimming schools for both sexes which were a feature of the Seine during the summer months.  It was located at the western end of the Ile de la Cite, behind the statue of Henry IV (which is visible in the etching). At the left is Pont Neuf.

In a letter to Jean Lesecq who commissioned this print Meryon wrote that he spent 45 days making this print; he notes: “I first made a drawing of the scene as it is in reality, but finding that the Pont Neuf was too much in profile, I made a second sketch in order to make a more compact composition.”

$2750

In very good condition.

Provenance: Colnaghi, London (with their notation verso).

A fine early atmospheric impression, printed in dark brownish/black ink.

In this state the borderline at both sides has yet to be reinforced. There is still a thin horizontal line across the lower margin above the bottom platemark, which is removed in the fifth state. The margin below is blank, and several changes are made in successive states before the letters (the title, the publisher, the printer) are added in the sixth state.

Meryon printed this state, and probably the proofs of the next two states, personally; then a large edition of 600 was made for L’Artiste, printed by Delatre.

La Tour depicts the Clock Tower, restored in 1852, still partly covered with scaffolding, standing at the point where the Pont-au-Change meets the Ile de la Cite. The Pont is full of activity. The composition is actually a composite of two different views, not precisely what one would see from any angle, but aesthetically more satisfying to Meryon than the “real” views he had made in preparation for the print.

$8500