Charles Émile Jacque’s etching, “Landscape—Plough Hitched to Rest”, 1846

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894)

“Landscape—Plough Hitched to Rest” (aka “Paysage - charrue attelée au repos”), 1846, printed by Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907) and published by the Alliance des Arts (aka Marchant) (fl.c.1830–80), Paris.

Etching on chine collé with plate tone on heavy wove paper with wide margins as published.

Size: (sheet) 24.6 x 36 cm; (plate) 5.6 x 11.6 cm

Inscribed on plate: (lower left) “Ch. Jacque 1846 / Alliance des Arts 140, r. de Rivoli”; (lower right) “Imp. Aug. Delatre … [illegible]'.

Guiffrey 1866 111 (undescribed state) (J-J Guiffrey 1866, “L'Oeuvre de Charles Jacque: catalogue de ses eaux-fortes et pointes seches”, Paris);  IFF 163 (Inventaire du Fonds Français: Bibliothèque Nationale, Département des Estampes, Paris, 1930)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“Horse-drawn plough in a field, in profile to left; later impression, with publisher's and printer's addresses, of print executed in 1846”

(http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=3501331&partId=1&searchText=jacque+plough&page=1)

Condition: richly inked, faultless impression in pristine condition (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, stains, abrasions or foxing). This print is in a superb/museum-quality condition.

I am selling this beautifully preserved etching by one of the luminaries of the Barbizon School for AU$138 (currently US$102.71/EUR88.50/GBP77.31 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world (but not, of course, any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries).

If you are interested in purchasing this unpretentiously simple and very beautiful etching, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

This print has been sold

For me the beauty of this etching lies in the loosely laid lines connoting a rapidly executed plate … and I have no doubt that this is true. In fact I can picture in my mind’s eye Jacque sitting on the edge of a freshly ploughed furrow as he inscribes his printing plate with this image; hence the reason for the fairly low angle of view and the reason that the horse and plough in middle ground—and I should mention that there is another lightly sketched in the far distance—are aligned parallel to the furrow on which Jacque sat.

The fact that this was a rapidly executed print has a slightly interesting outcome as, unlike Jacque's more formal studies, the publisher of this etching is the Alliance des Arts noted to be a publisher of “cheap” prints. Indeed, the British Museum even draws attention to this fact in a letter Vincent van Gogh wrote to his brother Theo dated 20 August 1880:

“Je crois que tu pourrais peutêtre trouver tout juste ce qu'il me faut à l'Alliance des Arts, où l'on a les lithographies des Artistes Contemporains &c. qui s'y vendent extrêmement bon marché”

(transl. "I believe you might find just what I need at the Alliance des Arts, where they have the lithographs from contemporary artists &c., which they sell at an extremely cheap price").