Theodore Fourmois’ etching, “Près d'Ardenne”

Theodore Fourmois (1814–71)

“Près d'Ardenne”, 1850

Etching chine collé trimmed near the platemark at the top and right sides.

Size: (sheet) 20.3 x 26.2 cm; (plate) 18.1 x 25.6 cm

Lettered below the image borderline (lower right): "T. Fourmois"

Hippert & Linnig 1874-9 I (Hippert, T & Linnig, J N, Le Peintre-Graveur Hollandais et Belge du dix-neuvième siècle, 3 vols, Brussels, 1809)

The British Museum offers the following description of this etching:

“Landscape of a hill with rocks, a path in the centre descending from left to right, two figures walking up along the path, a farmhouse in the centre with trees behind it, a village in the right background; plate 23 of the catalogue 'Album de la fête artistique à Bruxelles' (1850)” (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3338423&partId=1&searchText=Landscape+in+the+Ardennes&page=1).

Condition: marvellously crisp impression with printer’s creases/unevenness (?) in the chine collé. The verso is lined with a fine washi support sheet. The sheet is in excellent condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, stains or foxing).

I am selling this loosely drawn landscape for AU$78 in total (currently US$58.53/EUR52.56/GBP44.66 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this landscape etching by a leading 19^th century Belgium printmaker, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Fourmois is best known for his landscapes of the Ardennes and Campine—although he did venture into countryside of Dauphiné (south eastern France) and Switzerland. This view of the rugged terrain for which the Ardennes is famous is captured beautifully with Fourmois’ signature-style of building up an image with a layering of tiny curved marks. 

What I especially like about this print is the way that Fourmois spotlights an almost diamond-shaped area in the near foreground. For a moment, when I was gazing at this spot-lit area, I had difficultly rationalising how he achieved this effect—as if a shaft of light had illuminated the ground. But then I realised that the artist has left a faint trace of plate tone (i.e. grey) over the plate and had thoroughly wiped clean the plate tone from this particular area until it gleamed.