Pierre Guillaume Merzbacher’s three engravings, “L’Amour”, “La Fortune” and “L’Amitié”, 1857, after Bouguereau

Pierre Guillaume Merzbacher (1815–c1872)

(left) “L’Amour” (Love), (centre) “La Fortune” (Fortune), (right) “L’Amitié” (Friendship), 1857, three engravings on cream chine collé (China) on heavy wove paper, printed by Brébant (fl.c1857–1865) and published in “L’Artiste”, Part 2, 1958, after paintings of the same composition by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905) that were exhibited in the Salon of 1857 and currently in the Résidence de l'Ambassadeur des États-Unis d’Amérique, Paris (see the interesting online article regarding the restoration of Bouguereau’s “L’Amitié” and photographs of this painting in the Ambassador’s residence: http://www.cecilecharpentier.fr/fr/usa.php?lieu=residence).

Note: archive.org offers online viewing (and free-of-charge downloading) of the publication in which these engravings feature; see the prints in their contexts with the following links:

“L’Amour” (https://archive.org/details/lartistepart00unkngoog/page/n236/mode/2up);

“La Fortune” (https://archive.org/details/lartistepart00unkngoog/page/n44/mode/2up);

“L’Amitié” (https://archive.org/details/lartistepart00unkngoog/page/n144/mode/2up).

Each of the three engravings are titled on plate below the image borderline at centre and are lettered with the following publication details: (above the image borderline) “L’ARTISTE […] SALON DE 1857”; (below the image borderline) “BOUGUEREAU. PINXT. […(title)/] Imp. Brébant, 7 rue de Lancry_Paris […] MERZBACHER. SC.”

Size of each engraving:

“L’Amour” (sheet) 31.3 x 19.8 cm; (plate) 25.9 x 18.3 cm; (image borderline) 22.2 x 11.2 cm;

“La Fortune” (sheet) 31.2 x 21.1 cm; (plate) 29.3 x 19.9 cm; (image borderline) 25.2 x 12.5 cm;

“L’Amitié” (sheet) 31.2 x 19.9 cm; (plate) 27.7 x [?] cm; (image borderline) 22.2 x 111.1 cm.

Condition: strong impressions in excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing. “L’Amitié” is trimmed within the platemark on the sides and “La Fortune” has replenished lines around the image borderline where there was a thread gap in the chine collé edge.

I am selling this set of three graphically arresting engravings exemplifying the exuberant spirit of La Belle Époque in 19th century France, for AU$383 in total (currently US$279.11/EUR235.68/GBP210.21 at the time of posting this listing) 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 these stunningly rich engravings, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.