The Mortuary, Paris

Series Title: Etchings of Paris

1854

Charles Meryon

(French, 1821–1868)

Culture

France, 19th century

Medium

etching and drypoint on cream laid paper

Support

Cream laid paper

Measurements

Sheet: 28.8 x 24 cm (11 5/16 x 9 7/16 in.); Image: 21.2 x 18.9 cm (8 3/8 x 7 7/16 in.); Plate: 23 x 20.6 cm (9 1/16 x 8 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr. 1937.633

Catalogue raisonné

Delteil & Wright 36

State

IV/VII

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Location

Not on view

Description

Charles Meryon used etching—a technique that involves drawing on a printing plate with a needle’s point—to create minutely detailed images of Paris that imaginatively present recognizable sites. This print features bateaux-lavoirs (wash boats) on the Seine River, where laundresses could purchase a spot to do their washing. The boats appealed to Meryon, who was fascinated by Paris’s gradual transformation. Since they attracted crowds of working-class women, administrators considered the boats unsightly and unhygienic, repeatedly pushing them closer to the city’s outskirts until few remained by the end of the 1800s.