Charles Jacque’s etching, “Pastorale”, 1864

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894)

“Pastorale” (plate title) (aka “Pastoral Scene” [Met title]), 1864, after Charles Jacque’s painting of the same composition, from an untitled series of twenty-four etchings published in 1864 (Guiffrey [1866] cat. nos. 177 to 212) and printed by Sarazin (aka Sarasin) (fl.c.1846–1880) in Paris.

Etching on chine collé on heavy wove paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 43.2 x 30.6 cm; (plate) 28.2 x 21.2 cm; (chine collé) 14.5 x 11.2 cm; (image borderline) 13.4 x 10.5 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Ch. Jacque pinxt. sculpt.”; (centre) “PASTORALE”; (right) “Imp. Sarazin Paris”.

State i? (of iv) Lettered state before what Guiffrey describes as alterations to the whole plate of state ii, work on the heads of state iii and retouching of the whole plate of state iv.

Guiffrey 1866, 90.180 (J.-J. Guiffrey 1866, “L'Oeuvre de Ch. Jacque”, Paris, Lemaire, p. 90, cat. no. 180); IFF XI.114.283 (Jean Adhémar, Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Apres 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, p. 114, cat. no. 283); Beraldi 1885, VIII.187.180 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle”, 12 vols, Paris).

Guiffrey (1866) offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “Under the shade of a willow and a few other trees, a young peasant sitting on a mound of greenery bends over her elbow, listening to the words of the young shepherd seated near her and armed with a crook. At their feet, the sheep and lambs graze quietly, while the dog watches over the herd, detaching its dark silhouette against a background of sun-drenched trees” (p. 90).

See also the descriptions of this print at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/829838;

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1889-0608-211;

https://art.famsf.org/charles-emile-jacque/pastorale-19616130.

Condition: richly inked and near faultless impression with generous margins. There are remnants of mounting verso and there is slight darkening of the sheet at the upper and lower edges otherwise the sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, losses, stains or foxing).

I am selling this exceptionally beautiful and ultra-fine masterpiece of 19^th century etching executed by one of the luminaries of the Barbizon School for AU$247 (currently US$159.78/EUR147.22/GBP130.26 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this technically stunning etching exemplifying the artist’s romantic vision of rural life in France before the advent of industrialisation, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.