HARRIS SCHRANK FINE PRINTS » Charles Meryon

Le Rue des Toiles a Bourges

Harris Schrank — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 15:29:45 +0000

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.

Detail

La Morgue – 4th State

Harris Schrank — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:39:11 +0000

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

La Morgue – Rare 3rd State, before letters

Harris Schrank — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:20:48 +0000

Charles Meryon (1821-1868), La Morgue, etching, 1854, third state (of 7), printed in dark brown/black ink. References: Delteil Wright 36, Schneiderman 42. On a thin laid paper with a watermark with the initials CD. In excellent condition, with margins, image 8 3/8 x 7 1/2, the plate 9 1/8 x 8 1/8, the sheet 9 3/4 x 8 1/2 inches.

A superb atmospheric impression, with extensive and selective wiping of the plate, and particularly effective inking and plate tone in the ominous clouds of smoke and the shadowy areas at the left. The richness of the lines attest to the fine condition of the plate at this stage of its evolution. This is of course a proof impression hand printed by Meryon.

Impressions of the Morgue in the third state are of the utmost rarity. One impression of the first state is known (National Gallery), 2 of the second (Cincinnati and Paris), and eight of the third. We have not seen other impressions of this state on the market, and believe this may be the only impression of the third state still in private hands (cf. James D. Burke, Charles Meryon Prints and Drawings, p. 70; other third state impressions are in Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit, London, New York, New York PL, and Washington).

In this state the borderline and work on the composition are complete, but the inscriptions in cursive at the lower border have yet to be entered (including the name, date, address).