Léon Lhermitte, “Portrait of Charles Daubigny”, 1875

Léon Lhermitte (also known as Léon Augustin Lhermitte) (1844-1925)

“Portrait of Charles Daubigny”, 1875

Technical Details & Condition:

Etching with drypoint on buff-coloured laid paper with “Arches” watermark. Printed in Paris by Abraham Beillet (active 1850–1876). This portrait depicts the renowned Barbizon artist Charles Daubigny (also known as Charles François Daubigny) (1817–1878). It served as the frontispiece to Frédéric Henriet’s catalogue raisonné of Daubigny’s graphic work, “Daubigny et son Œuvre Gravé”, published in Paris. See: https://archive.org/details/cdaubignyetsonuv00henr/page/n13/mode/2up

Note: Although Henriet’s later 1905 catalogue retrospectively records the publication date as 1874, bibliographic records confirm the official release as 1875.

Henriet (1905) offers the following insight about this portrait (translated): 

“Léon Lhermitte drew and engraved this copperplate after the charcoal portrait he made in the studio of the famous landscape painter (rue Fontaine-Saint-Georges), who kindly posed for him. The artist is depicted at his easel, wearing the beret he wore in his studio.” (p. 71; see: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k96176869/f123)

The impression is strong, crisp, and evenly printed with wide margins. Aside from faint discoloration in the upper right of the image, the sheet remains in excellent condition—free of tears, holes, folds, abrasions, or significant stains and handling marks.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 27.4 x 19.8 cm
• Platemark: 16.8 x 11 cm
• Image borderline: 12.1 x 10 cm

In-Plate Lettering

• Upper left: “L. Lhermitte”

(Below the image):

• Left of centre: “L. Lhermitte del. et sc.”
• Centre: “C. DAUBIGNY”
• Right: “Imp. Beillet Paris”

References:

• Henriet 18 (Frédéric Henriet, “Les Eaux-Fortes de Léon Lhermitte”, 1905, Paris, A. Lemerre, p. 71, cat. no. 18. Although Henriet lists the source publication date as 1874, the actual imprint is from 1875.)
• Beraldi 14 (Henri Beraldi, “Les Graveurs Du Xixe Siecle:  LAEMLEIN - MÉCOU”, Vol. IX, 1889, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 179, cat. no. 14)
• MAH Musée d'art et d'histoire, Ville de Genève: Inventory Number E 2017-1714 (https://www.mahmah.ch/collection/oeuvres/portrait-de-daubigny/e-2017-1714)

Price & Shipping:

AU$245 (approx. US$171.09 / €149.53 / £127.06), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties and taxes (if applicable) are the buyer’s responsibility.

To acquire this historically significant portrait of one of the leading artists of the Barbizon School—surprisingly, this portrait does not appear to be in the online collection of the British Museum—please contact oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com. I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice for a seamless, protected transaction.

This print has been sold 

Charles Meryon ,“Portrait of Jean Besly”, 1861, after Jaspar Isaac

Charles Meryon (aka Charles Méryon) (1821–1868)

“Portrait of Jean Besly”, 1861, after the design (possibly an engraving?) by the printmaker, printer and publisher, Jaspar Isaac (fl.1585–1654) showing the historian, Jean Besly (1612-1647), from the Province of Poitou, at the age of 70 in 1642, signed in the plate with Charles Meryon’s monogram in the upper-left corner and with the date (1861) inscribed in the margin at lower centre, printed in Paris by Abraham Beillet (aka Beillet & Forestier) (fl.1850–1876) as an illustration to the first volume (of two) of Benjamin Fillon and Octave de Rochebrune’s “Poitou et Vendée, études historiques et artistiques”, published in 1861.

Etching with pale surface tone, printed on oriental paper with wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 30.8 x 23.2 cm; (platemark is too soft for accurate measurement [14.7 x 12 cm]); (image borderline) 11 x 8.9 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (upper left corner) [Charles Meryon’s monogram]; (square at upper right) “ÆT 70/ ANN 1642/ [coat-of-arms]”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “d'après I. Isac”; (centre) “IEAN BESLY/ 1861”; (right) “Imp. A. Beillet Q. de la Tournelle, 35.”

State iv (of iv) with the addition of the artist’s monogram.

Delteil & Wright 82 (Loys Delteil & Harold JL Wright 1989, “Catalogue Raisonné of the Etchings of Charles Meryon”, San Francisco, Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, n.p., cat. no. 82 [4^th state]).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by The British Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1876-0510-392; https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/377942.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with wide margins. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this seemingly raw etching by one the acknowledged masters of 19^th century French printmaking, Charles Meryon (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Meryon), after the design by the very fine engraver, Jaspar Isaacs (see for example, https://www.printsandprinciples.com/2020/05/jaspar-isaacs-engraving-descent-from.html), showing the historian Jean Besly in his 70^th year in 1642, for AU $291 in total (currently US $182.45/ EUR 175.28/ GBP 148.15 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU $291) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in this intriguing portrait by Meryon, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Alfred Dannequin’s etching, “Plateau de Belle-Croix, Forêt de Fontainebleau”, 1869

Alfred Dannequin (aka Alfred Joseph Dannequin) (?–1890)

“Plateau de Belle-Croix, Forêt de Fontainebleau”, 1869, a proof-state impression before lettering for publication in Paris by Cadart & Luce (Alfred Cadart [1828–1875]) and printing by Abraham Beillet (fl.1850–76/83) as an illustration to the art periodical, “L'Illustration Nouvelle.” See description of the lettered/published state offered by MAH (Musée d'art et d'histoire, Ville de Genève): https://www.mahmah.ch/collection/oeuvres/plateau-de-belle-croix-foret-de-fontainebleau/e-2015-0436-009.

Regarding this print and the artist, the Museum of New Zealand (Te Papa Tongarewa) offers the following marvellous insights: “In this highly atmospheric, romantic etching, evocative—probably unconsciously—of the beautiful precision and humility towards nature of Caspar David Friedrich, we see three ancient, leafless oaks standing out against a buttermilk sky. Glacial boulders surround a brackish pond and an unknown man, probably rendered deliberately small, poses with a staff at the centre. The scen[e] is located in the Forest of Fontainebleau, the favoured location of the Barbizon School of French realist painters including Corot and Daubigny. The printmaker Alfred Joseph Dannequin (d. 1890) was a little-known associate of the Barbizon School” (https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/37739).

Etching, drypoint and dot-roulette on tissue-thin washi paper, proof-state impression before lettering for publication with wide margins and pencil notations giving descriptive details about the print inscribed along the lower edge of the margin.

Size: (sheet) 27.2 x 40.8 cm; (plate) 18.2 x 23.6 cm; (image borderline) 15 x 23 cm.

Beraldi 2 (Henri Béraldi 1886, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes: CHERRIER–DIEN”, vol. V, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 89, cat. no. 2 of 4 titles listed).

Condition: a richly inked faultless proof-state impression with generously wide margins. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing but there is a pencil inscribed notation from a previous collection giving the critical details about the print.

I am selling this exceptionally rare, proof-state impression before lettering with the title and publication details, for AU$281 in total (currently/approximately US$190.69/EUR174.79/GBP146.81 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU$281) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this beautifully moody twilight scene showing not only a figure resting on a cane near a pond in the Fontainebleau Forest—a forest sixty kilometres southeast of Paris that was a favourite painting location for the Barbizon School of artists—but, more interesting to me, also showing some of the sparkle of the brilliantly white sand—arguably the purest in the world and used (I understand) by the Murano glassworks—and rocky bars of the region (see https://www.mindat.org/loc-1698.html), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Maxime Lalanne, “Le Matin”, 1882, after Théodore Rousseau

Maxime Lalanne (aka François Antoine Maxime Lalanne) (1827–1886)

“Le Matin” (title as inscribed in plate) (aka “Morning”; “La Mare” [Beraldi’s title]), 1882, after a painting by Théodore Rousseau (aka, Pierre Etienne Théodore Rousseau) (1812–1867), printed by Abraham Beillet (fl.1850–76/83) and published in the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts” in August 1883 as an insert between pages 118 and 119.

Interestingly, ten years before Lalanne executed “Le Matin”, Félix Bracquemond (aka Joseph Auguste Félix Bracquemond) (1833–1914) etched, “Bouquet d'Arbres près d'un cours d'Eau” (Bouquet of Trees near a Stream) (1872), that is also a translation of Rousseau's painting into line, but in the reverse direction to Lalanne's print: see https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1916-0411-23.

Etching on cream laid paper (watermarked “MBM” [Arches]) with a small margin around the platemark and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (sheet) 18.1 x 25.4 cm; (plate) 16 x 24 cm; (image borderline) 12.4 x 18.9 cm.

Lettered in plate above the image borderline: (centre) “EXPOSITION DES CEMT CHEFS – D’ŒUVRE.”

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower left) “TH ROUSSEAU”; (lower right) “[signature] M Lalanne”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) Th. Rousseau pinx./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “LE MATIN./ (Collection de M^me la Baronne N. de Rothschild.}; (right) “M. Lalanne sc./ Beillet imp.”

State iii (of iii) final published state with height of plate reduced.

Villet 156 (Jeffrey M. Villet 2010, “The Complete Prints of Maxime Lalanne”, Washington, D.C., art@mone fine prints, n.p., cat. no. 156).

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression with a small margin around the platemark. Beyond a few surface marks, the sheet is in a very good condition and has been laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins.

I am selling this marvellous etching that (to my eyes) sparkles with morning light, for AU$187 in total (currently US $120.62/EUR 112.96/GBP 97.46 at the time of this listing) including Express (EMS) 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 very beautiful etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Adolphe Martial Potémont’s etching, “La Glaneuse”, 1877, after Jules Breton

Adolphe Martial Potémont (aka Adolphe Martial; Adolphe Théodore Jules Martial Potémont) (1828–1883)

“La Glaneuse” (The Gleaner), 1877, after a painting by Jules Breton (aka Jules Adolphe Aimé Louis Breton) (1827–1906) exhibited in the Salon of 1877, printed in Paris by Abraham Beillet (aka Beillet & Forestier) (fl.1850–1877) and published in the art periodical, “L'Art” in 1877, facing page 282 (see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1055732g/f334.double).

Etching on cream laid paper.

Size: (sheet) 36 x 22 cm; (plate) 30.9 x 17.7 cm; (image borderline) 24.2 x 13 cm

Lettered in plate: (above the image borderline) “Salon de 1877.”; (below the image at left) “Jules Breton,pinx./ L'Art.”; (below the image at centre) “[artist’s monogram]/ LA GLANEUSE.”; (below the image at right) “A.P.Martial, sc/ Imp.A.Beillet,Paris”.

Beraldi 26 (Henri Béraldi 1891, “Les graveurs du XIXe siècle: Guide de l'amateur d'estampes modernes: PILLEMENT - SAINT-ÈVRE”, vol. 11, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, p. 36, cat. no. 26 [Reproductions diverses]). See also the description of this print offered by the British Museum: https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1878-0511-341.

Condition: a strong and well-printed impression in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this graphically striking etching of a barefoot young woman carrying a sheath of wheat with fellow farm-workers shown in the distance, for AU$203 in total (currently US$132.39/EUR121.91/GBP104.19 at the time of posting this listing) 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 iconic image from nineteenth century France casting an aura of nobility over peasant workers, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.