Petits, Petits
Charles Emile Jacque (1813-1894), Petits, Petits, etching on chine colle, c. 1864 [signed in the plate upper left, also with the name of the artist and the printer (Sarazin)]. Reference: Guiffrey 187, third state (of 3). In good condition, the full sheet, 5 x 6 7/8, the sheet 12 x 16 3/4 inches, archival matting.
Provenance:
Alfred Beurdeley (his stamp recto lower right, Lugt 421).
A fine clear impression.
Although Jacque’s training as an artist was spotty, he did learn printmaking early in his career, and developed a strong reputation in the graphic arts. In 1845 Baudelaire wrote of this young printmaker, who had submitted a copy of a Rembrandt self-portrait to the Salon: M. Jacque is a name which will continue, let us hope, to grow greater. M. Jacque’s etching is very bold and he has grasped his subject admirably. There is a directness and a freedom about everything that M. Jacque does upon his copper which reminds one of the old masters. He is known besides to have executed some remarkable reproductions of Rembrandt’s etchings.
When a cholera epidemic hit Paris in 1849 Jacque and his family, along with his friend Millet, decided to move to Fountainebleau, where they were to become associated with the famed Barbizon School.
Detail