Etienne Gabriel Bocourt’s etching, “États Généraux, Séance du 23 Juin 1789”, c1882

 

Etienne Gabriel Bocourt (1821–c1882)

“États Généraux, Séance du 23 Juin 1789”, c1882, after the bronze high-relief sculpture by Jules Dalou (1838–1902) exhibited in the Salon of 1883 (see http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/image/archim/0006/dafanch99_765301_2.jpg).

Wikipedia offers an explanation of the episode portrayed and describes the moment that (in translation) the “grand master of ceremonies, Henri-Évrard de Dreux-Brézé, … [addresses] Bailly, dean of the Assembly and of the Third Estate, to remind him of the king's [Louis XVI (1754–1793) King of France) order. Bailly retorts: ‘The assembled Nation cannot receive orders’. It was then that, according to legend, Mirabeau would have come forward to say: ‘Go tell those who send you that we are here by the will of the people, and that we will only be snatched from it by the power of bayonets’" (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9ance_royale_du_23_juin_1789).

Note that Alphonse Lamotte (1844-1914) also executed the engraving, “Mirabeau responding to Dreux-Brézé” (1889), of the same sculpture by Dalou (see https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C3%A9ance_royale_du_23_juin_1789#/media/Fichier:Etats_G%C3%A9n%C3%A9raux_-_grav%C3%A9s_par_Lamotte.jpg).

Etching on cream chine collé on heavy wove paper with wide margins backed with a support sheet of washi paper.

Size: (sheet) 43.6 x 67.5 cm; (plate) 27.7 x 54.8 cm; (chine collé) 26.5 x 53.5 cm; (image borderline) 49.7 x 22 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “J. DALOU SCULPSIT.”; (centre) “ÉTATS GÉNÉRAUX, SÉANCE DU 23 JUIN 1789./ Réponse de Mirabeau au marquis de Dreux-Brézé:/ (( Nous sommes ici par la volonté du peuple et nous n’en sortirons que par la puissance de baïonnettes. ))” [(transl.) “GENERAL STATEMENTS, SESSION OF JUNE 23, 1789./ Response from Mirabeau to the Marquis de Dreux-Brézé:/ ((We are here by the will of the people and we will only get out with the power of bayonets.))]; (right) “E. BOCOURT AQUA F.”

Collections des musées de France (Joconde) offers a description of this print: https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/3341dcc1-9d95-4f98-946d-a7542d8ae8f6.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed impression with generously wide margins laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper. Beyond minor fractures in the chine collé margin at right, this huge etching is in a surprisingly good condition for its size with no significant stains or foxing.

Note that I have previously listed another very large engraving after a sculpture by Jules Dalou. This engraving, “La République”, by Daniel Charles Marie Mordant is still available: see https://www.printsandprinciples.com/2017/10/daniel-charles-marie-mordants-engraving.html.

This print has been sold

I am selling this visually arresting and very finely executed giant of an etching for the total cost of AU$300 (currently US$215.70/EUR190.08/GBP158.64 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 superb rendering of Dalou’s sculpture commemorating a pivotal episode in the Third French Republic (1870–1940), contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold