Etchings of Paris: The Mortuary (1854): Art, History and Details

Etchings of Paris: The Mortuary (1854) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Charles Meryon (French, 1821–1868).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

One of the greatest French etchers and an important figure in the mid-19th-century etching revival, Meryon devoted himself exclusively to drawing and printmaking by the age of 28. Continually experimenting to achieve the desired nuances of light and shadow, he developed his compositions through numerous states and printed on a variety of papers, favoring pale green for some of his most beautiful impressions. Meryon specialized in views of Paris, often recording older areas, like the morgue building dating from 1568, soon to disappear with the modernization of the city.

Object facts

• Title: Etchings of Paris: The Mortuary
• Date: 1854
• Creator attribution: Charles Meryon (French, 1821–1868)
• Culture: France, 19th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: etching and drypoint
• Dimensions: Sheet: 33.7 x 29.2 cm (13 1/4 x 11 1/2 in.); Platemark: 23.1 x 20.7 cm (9 1/8 x 8 1/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Etching
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1954.893

Collection credit

The Milton Curtiss Rose Collection in memory of Evelyn Curtiss Rose

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.