Prints and Principles

Most of the recent posts give details about individual prints and earlier posts discuss some of the subtle principles guiding artists in making images meaningful and memorable. For prints that are unsold, click "Items still available for sale" below. All other prints are no longer available. My contact email is oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com and my Instagram username is @printsandprinciples. I have created a separate blog to show my own work: https://printsandprinciplesjamesbrown.blogspot.com

Monday, 19 September 2022

Félix Bracquemond’s etching, “Monument Funèbre”, 1867, after Bartholdi

Félix Bracquemond (aka Joseph Auguste Félix Bracquemond) (1833–1914)

“Monument Funèbre” (aka “Monument funèbre au cimetière Montmartre [Tombeau du fils Xefftzer], d'après Bartholdi” [Beraldi title]), 1867, after Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi (aka Amilcar Hasenfratz) (1834–1904), printed by Alfred Salmon (aka Adolphe Ardail; Salmon & Ardail; Alfred Fortuné Salmon) (fl.1863–1894) and published in Paris in the art periodical, “Gazette des Beaux Arts”, vol. 23 (XXIII), 1^st November1867, insert between pages 426–427 (see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k203087m/f453.item).

Etching on laid paper backed with a support sheet.

Size: (support sheet) 34.9 x 38 cm; (sheet) 18.2 x 24.1 x cm; (plate) 15.2 x 23.1 cm; (image borderline) 12.6 x 18.9 cm.

Inscribed in plate within the image borderline: (lower left corner) “Bracquemond”.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “BARTHOLDI INV./ Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”; (centre) “MONUMENT FUNÈBRE/ Au Cimetiére Montmartre.”; (right) “BRACQUEMOND SCULP./ Imp. A. Salmon, Paris.”

Beraldi 288 iii/iii (Henri Béraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du XIXe Siècle: Guide de l'Amateur d'Estampes Modernes: Bracquemond”, vol. III, Paris, Librairie L Conquet, p. 102, cat. no. 288).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “Funerary monument on the grave of Georges Nefftzer at the Montmartre cemetery; a monument of a shrouded female seen in profile, turned to the right, on a pedestal with steps; she is seated, with knees pulled up towards her, head and arms on her knees, weeping; beyond, tall trees and shrubs in the right foreground; a narrow clearing beyond at right; after Bartholdi…1867/ Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1872-0113-440).

See also the insights about the funerary monument offered by Colmar (the memory of stones): http://etienne.biellmann.free.fr/colmar/en/nefftzer2a.htm.

C&J Goodfriend offers an excellent description of this print: http://www.drawingsandprints.com/CurrentExhibition/detail.cfm?ExhibitionID=13&Exhibition=28.

Condition: a strong and well-printed (faultless) impression laid upon an archival support sheet of millennium quality washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, foxing or signs of handling.

I am selling this remarkable etching by one of the influential French artists of the 19^th century of a funerary sculpture by the designer of the “Statue of Liberty” (aka “Liberty Enlightening the World”), for AU$233 in total (currently US$155.76/EUR156.09/GBP136.87 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 curiously interesting etching—for me, this print brings together in a single image the classical leanings of the Paris Salon, the direct observations of the Barbizon school and the creative invention of the etching revival movement—please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold