Harris Schrank Fine Prints

Charles Meryon (1821-1868), La Morgue, 1854, etching, fourth state (of 7), printed in brown/black ink, Schneiderman 42 [with the inscription, date, address in the plate]. 9 3/4 x 8 3/8, the sheet 13 x 10 1/2 inches.

A fine impression, printed on thin cream laid paper in a dark brown/black ink. With the Hallines Shield watermark.

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 subtle 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.

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828), 1799, etching, burnished aquatiint and drypoint. Reference: Harris 90, First Edition, plate 55 from the Caprichos. Printed on fine quality strong laid paper. In very good condition, the full sheet, 8 3/4 x 6 1/8, the sheet 12 1/8 x 7 15/16 inches.

A brilliant early impression of this iconic image, from the First Edition. The aquatint, dark in two tones, here contrasts well with the highlights on the maid, the old woman, the dressing table and the mirror. Consistent with the earliest impressions, there is a slight touch of drypoint burr on the right cheek of the maid (this wears off in later impressions of the first edition).

Goya’s commentary: She is quite right to make herself look pretty. It is her seventy-fifth birthday, and her little girl friends are coming to see her.

Los Caprichos, the earliest of the major Goya series, is a series of 80 engravings, published initially in 1799 by Goya himself. Goya produced a number of working proofs for these engravings, without the letters found on the bottom margin or the numbers at the top. Only two are known before aquatint. Then letters were added; more trial proofs taken and the letters on a number of these proofs corrected. These early proofs, and a few complete early sets, are fairly well documented; their location is known. In 1799 the prints were published in an edition of about 300, on fine quality strong laid paper, the sheets measure about 320 by 220 mm, in a warm sepia ink. These prints, in the First Edition, are each (of course) lifetime impressions. They vary a bit in quality, for as the run went into the hundreds the aquatint began to wear out, the different layers of shading became less distinct. But in general these prints are fine impressions.

In 1855, long after Goyas death, the Calcografia in Madrid issued another set of Los Caprichos, now on wove paper. This edition was small, and the quality was generally good although variable. But the prints are not comparable to those of the First Edition. The Calcografia produced another edition (the Third Edition), also on wove paper, in 1868. Further editions were done in the late 1800s, with various inks, still on wove paper, and the plates continued to deteriorate. The plates were then steelfaced (a tiny layer of steel applied to them, to halt the deterioration). More editions were produced by the Calcografia, with various papers, watermarks, sizes and inks, up through the 12th Edition, issued in 1937.

All of these posthumous edition impressions are in some sense original Goya prints, i.e., they were taken off of the original plates. The editions, almost all originally in bound volumes of 80, have been broken up and impressions are sold singly. Connoisseurs of course prefer the impressions from the First Edition, and the earlier impressions from that edition if possible.

Adriaen Van Ostade (1610-1685), The Family, etching with drypoint, 1647, signed and dated in plate lower right. Louis Godefroy 46, fourth state (of 7), on a cream laid paper, in very good condition, 7 x 6 1/4 inches, 181x 160 mm.

Provenance:
Kennedy Galleries, New York, with their inventory number a49071 verso
Unidentified collector with initials HW in pencil verso, not in Lugt (probably not Horace Walpole, whose initialing was a bit different)
Jean-Louis Henri Le Secq (1818-1889) with his stamp verso, Lugt 1336

A very good impression, before the Picart edition (in the fifth state). Fourth state impressions are considered “rare” by Godefroy (R).

The Family is one of Ostade’s most beloved prints, referred to by Hamerton as perhaps his most perfect etching, remarkable for its lighting and composition, and by Wedmore as among the chefs d’oeuvre of the art of etching. The light is focused on the four family members (6 counting the infant and the dog): the father cutting bread, the worn and tired-looking mother fondling her infant, the younger son holding a soup bowl, and the older son playing with the pet dog.

James Ensor (1860-1949), Exterminating Angel (LAnge Exterminateur), etching with drypoint, 1889, signed and dated in pencil lower right, also titled and countersigned verso. References: Delteil 77, Croquez 77, Elesh 77, Taevernier 77; second (final) state. In very good condition, on a tan Japan paper with wide margins. 4 3/4 x 6 1/4, the sheet 9 5/8 x 11 15/16 inches.

A fine impression printed in a grey/black ink, with substantial plate tone.

Only a few impressions of a first state of this print are known; one definitively identified in 2002 published in the catalogue on Ensor prints presented for sale by CG Boerner.

Gillis and Florizoone in the CG Boerner catalogue note that this print combines a Catholic element, the destroying angel of the apocalypse with the Flemish proverb to go in ones pants from fear. In his catalogue of the graphic works of Ensor, Albert Croquez made the link between this work and the painting [and print] by Henri Rousseau titled La Guerre. It is not very likely that the painting influenced Ensor, but it is possible that both artists were inspired by the same source, namely the parody of Le Tsar, published in the French magazine LEgalite on October 6, 1889.