François Nicolas Chifflart, “Frontispiece: Illustration Nouvelle 1876”

François Nicolas Chifflart (1825–1901)
“Frontispiece: Illustration Nouvelle 1876”, 1876

Technical Details & Condition:
Etching on fine laid paper with generously wide margins as issued. This work was published in Paris by Veuve Cadart (active 1875–1882) as the title plate to the 1776 edition of the art periodical L’Illustration Nouvelle.

The impression is richly inked and well-printed (near faultless). The sheet is in near pristine condition, free from tears, holes, folds, abrasions, stains, or signs of handling.

Dimensions:

• Sheet: 48.5 x 33 cm
• Plate mark: 23.9 x 16.1 cm
• Image border: 23.2 x 15.5 cm

Plate Lettering:

• Upper centre (featuring the reversed letter “N”): “Illustration/ Nouvelle / 1876”

References:

• IFF 15 (Jean Adhémar, Inventaire du Fonds Français après 1800: CABANE–CICÉRI, 1949, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Département des Estampes, vol. 4, p. 527, cat. no. 15 [see https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5510949t/f549.item])
• Additionally, see the description of this print by the Metropolitan Museum of Art:
  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/746106.
  (Note: The IFF/BN reference number provided by the MET (BN IV.527.17) is incorrect; the correct number is 15.)

Price & Shipping:
AU$271 (approximately US$181.84 / €153.98 / £134.40), including worldwide express shipping. Import duties and taxes are the buyer’s responsibility.

If you are interested in acquiring this dark, evocative, and undoubtedly allegorical etching — depicting a winged figure holding aloft a flaming torch illuminating the title of the collection of prints from which this frontispiece originates — please contact me at oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com.

This image may symbolise the shipwreck of art and engraved illustration before the dawn of a new age of illustration (please forgive me if I am mistaken). I am happy to provide a secure PayPal invoice to make your purchase straightforward and secure.

François Nicolas Chifflart, “La Mélancolie”, 1877

François Nicolas Chifflart (1825–1901

“La Mélancolie”, 1877, printed by François Liénard (fl.c.1860s-1880s) and published in Paris as an illustration to the art periodical, “L'Art”, 1877, in volume 8, page 200.

Etching with plate tone on laid paper with full margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 43 x 30 cm; (plate) 27.8 x 19 cm; (image borderline) 23 x 15.5 cm.

Lettered in plate below the image borderline: (left) “F. Chifflart .inv. et sc./ L'Art ”; (centre) “LA MÉLANCOLIE.”; (right) “F^çois Liénàrd.Imp.Paris.”

IFF 16 (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes); Beraldi 4 (Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print: “A figure representing [melancholy], looking despondent, leans against a rock, head cast downwards to the left; she holds a trumpet in her hand; in the background, a crowd of triumphant figures, including a figure on a winged horse at right, others brandishing torches or a laurel wreath; beyond, a domed building with columns on a platform; published in 'L'Art', Vol. VIII, p. 200, 1877. Etching” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1878-0511-291).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression in a near pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or signs of handling.

I am selling this impressively strong and bold etching showing the personification of melancholy—mindful that at the time of the etching revival when this print was executed, there was (I understand) an interesting leaning towards the nostalgia and a reappraisal of melancholic yearning for deep knowledge (as was formerly expressed in Durer’s famous engraving, “Melancholy”)—for the total cost of AU$271 (currently US$178.77/EUR163.49/GBP139.74 at the time of posting this) 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 fabulous etching showing the symbolic figure of Melancholy holding what may be her extinguished torch or trumpet of fame (forgive me if I’m wrong about this), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.