The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Three Fishermen Along the Banks of a River at the Edge of a Forest

1868

Adolphe Appian

(French, 1818–1898)
charcoal with stumping and scratching out and touches of white chalk on beige paper
Sheet: 59.4 x 98.5 cm (23 3/8 x 38 3/4 in.); Secondary Support: 60.5 x 99.5 cm (23 13/16 x 39 3/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2021.140
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Adolphe Appian was so well known for his skillful use of charcoal that many artists wrote to him asking for technical advice.

Description

Adolphe Appian was renowned during the 19th century for his mastery of charcoal drawing. He specialized in large-scale landscapes depicting Lyon, his native region in southeastern France, and focused on what he termed “private little corners” rather than grandiose views. This drawing is one of several in which Appian depicted the winding Rhône River and the dense trees and large boulders that surrounded it. Two small fishermen give a sense of scale and draw the viewer into the scene. Appian worked with charcoal sticks and powder, wiping the material with cloth, paper, and even breadcrumbs before scratching into the paper’s surface to create an unprecedented tonal range.
  • the artist’s family, by descent
    ?
    (Paul Prouté, Paris, sold to Nicholas and Margaret Grasselli)
    2012-2017
    Nicholas and Margaret Grasselli, Washington, D.C.
    2017
    (W. M. Brady, & Co., New York, NY)
    2017-2021
    Private Collection, United States
    2021
    (Jill Newhouse Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2021-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Master Drawings: Vasari to Bonnard. Exh. cat. New York: W. M. Brady & Co., 2017. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 33
    Dumas, Ann, Leïla Jarbouai, Christopher Lloyd, and Harriet K. Stratis. Impressionists on Paper: Degas to Toulouse-Lautrec. London : Royal Academy of Arts, 2023. Reproduced: p. 44, fig. 28
    Salsbury, Britany. Nineteenth-Century French Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Lewes, UK, Cleveland, Ohio: GILES; Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 110-111, no. 15
  • Nineteenth-Century French Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 20-June 11, 2023).
    Dreaming of France. Jill Newhouse Gallery, New York, NY (May 4–28, 2021).
    Master Drawings: Vasari to Bonnard. W.M. Brady & Co., New York, NY (January 24–February 17, 2017).
  • {{cite web|title=Three Fishermen Along the Banks of a River at the Edge of a Forest|url=false|author=Adolphe Appian|year=1868|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2021.140