Lot 300
  • 300

Delacroix, Eugene and Others

Estimate
12,000 - 15,000 USD
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Description

  • Sociétés des Aqua-Fortistes Eaux-fortes modernes Oeuvres inédites et originales. Paris: Published by A. Cadart et Luquet, [1862-1866]
  • paper, ink, leather
5 volumes, folio (21 1/2 x 14 in.; 546 x 356 mm). Letterpress titles to vols. 2-5 in red and black, 5 engraved additional titles, 299 (of 300) ETCHED PLATES BY DELACROIX (3), MANET (2), FANTIN-LATOUR (1), COROT (3), COURBET (1) and many others, plates 1-180 (i.e. vols 1-3) printed on india paper, mounted on wove paper as issued, plates 181-300 (vols. 4-5) proofs before letters printed on uniform laid paper with intermittent Aqua Fortistes watermark; lacks one minor plate (number 248 by Adolph-Rene Lefebvre, "Le Titien et la Duchesse de Ferrare - Nymphe"), dampstaining to upper margin of vol. 5 title, lacks preliminary text to vol. 1. Expertly bound to style in half red morocco over period pebbled cloth covered boards, spine with raised bands, lettered in the second compartment, the others with a repeat decoration in gilt, marbled endpapers.

Catalogue Note

A RARE NEAR COMPLETE SET OF THIS GALLERY OF GROUND-BREAKING WORK, a celebration of the etching revival in France led by Delacroix, Manet, Fantin-Latour, Corot, Courbet and Meryon.

The Société des Aqua-Fortistes was the French equivalent of the Etching Club in England and similarly it aimed to produce a collection of high quality etchings by the leading artists of the period. Like the Etching Club, the Société des Aqua-Fortistes sought to raise the reputation of the medium from a reproductive technique to a fine art. Although the etching revival began somewhat earlier in England, the French movement exerted a far greater influence on the medium, and included a wider range of prominent artists. The Barbizon painters were among the earliest French artists to participate in the etching revival, and their superb prints helped raise the medium to new heights.