Cleveland Museum of Art

Etchings of Paris: The Mortuary

Charles Meryon

Date

1854

Medium

etching and drypoint

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

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