Charles Émile Jacque (1813–94)

“Porte d'auberge” [Gate inn], 1849, from the series “20 sujets composés et gravés à l'eau-forte par Ch. Jacques” [20 composed subjects and engraved etchings by Ch. Jacques]

Etching on thick cream laid paper with 3.5 cm chainlines

Inscribed in the plate with the artist’s signature and date (upper right corner) “Ch. Jacque 1849 Xbre.”

Size: (sheet) 33.7 x 31 cm; (plate); 15.3 x 17.4 cm; (image) 12.6 x 14.9 cm

Guiffrey (1866) 88 (first state before the retouching of the girl’s head of the second state and before the inscribed number “14” shown in the British Museum's copy which is an undescribed state [state iii?] by Guiffrey [1866])

Guiffrey offers the following description of this print [Google Translation]: “88. DOOR INN. H. 125 ". L. 15I". Before the ground of an inn, elevated a few steps above the street, is a rider on a blouse RUS- saddle holding his right hand on his hat & carrying his whip & the other to his mouth glass that came appor- ter him above the door of the inn, a sign which hangs a pitcher. At the bottom the stairs, a broken pitcher. At bottom left, the huts of a village & front of them, three peasants and two hens. Signed Ch. Jacque acque. Xbre. 1849. First Fau-high pure state. Second. Retouching status of the head of the girl. AA. 378. N. Coll.”

Condition: crisp impression with large margins in near pristine condition. Nevertheless there is a lightly erased pencil notation by a previous collector in the margin (recto) and a tiny dot at the lower left in the margin.

I am selling this romantic image with more than a hint of Rembrandt by one of the leading artists of the Barbizon School for $128 AUD (currently US$92.38/EUR82.33/GBP63.67 at the time of posting this print) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this original Jacque etching evoking the traditions of the old masters, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Like many other nineteenth-century printmakers, the motivation for Jacque to translate other artists' artworks—their paintings, drawings and even their prints (e.g. those by Adriaen van Ostade)—into etchings was driven by public interest at the time to see representations of masterworks that would otherwise be inaccessible. As far as I am aware, this etching is not a direct copy of another artist's work, but the image, in terms of subject, style and its hint of an underlying narrative, fits well into the tradition of Dutch masters reaching back to Rembrandt.