The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 25, 2024
Etchings of Paris: The Little Bridge
1850
(French, 1821–1868)
Sheet: 36.7 x 26.9 cm (14 7/16 x 10 9/16 in.); Platemark: 26 x 18.7 cm (10 1/4 x 7 3/8 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Delteil & Wright 24; Schneiderman 21
Location: not on view
Description
Although Meryon made the first study for this scene with a camera lucida (an apparatus containing a prism or an arrangement of mirrors that reflects the image on a surface so that its outlines may be traced), the artist then made changes to improve the composition—extending the height of the towers of Notre-Dame, for instance. Meryon did not mean his plates to have the precision of a photograph. Rather, he combined two views—a sketch from a low point at the water's edge and a view from the parapet—which, although not totally accurate, are believable. Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) reported in a letter that he discussed this print with the artist who claimed "that the shadow cast by a portion of the stonework on the side wall of the Pont Neuf looked exactly like the profile of a sphinx; that this was entirely coincidence on his part and only later did he take note of this peculiarity."- Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).The Cleveland Museum of Art; 8/26/01-10/28/01. "Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19th-Century French Prints".The Print Club of Cleveland, 1919 - 1969: Fifty Years in Review. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (January 14-March 31, 1970).
- {{cite web|title=Etchings of Paris: The Little Bridge|url=false|author=Charles Meryon|year=1850|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.881