Alfred Chataud’s etching, “Exterior View of the Kasbah of Algiers”, 1875

Alfred Chataud (aka Marc Alfred Chataud) (1833–1908)

“Exterior View of the Kasbah of Algiers”, 1875. Based on my reading of the inscription in the plate (and I may be very wrong), this etching shows the wooden pavilion called "du coup d'eventail" that is a feature of the Dey Hussein Palace inside the Kasbah of Algiers.  I believe that the print was possibly executed during one of the artist’s stays in Algeria where the artist’s family had properties before he moved to Algiers permanently seventeen years later, in 1892.

Etching with plate tone on laid paper with wide margins backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 28.4 x 20 cm; (plate) 12 x 7.8 cm; (image borderline) 10.2 x 6.7 cm.

Signed in plate within the image borderline at lower left.

Inscribed in plate below the image borderline: “Vue exterieure du pavillon du coup d'even[t]ail/ Kasbah d'Alger”.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed impression with generously wide margins laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper. The sheet is in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this small and (to my eyes) lovingly executed etching—note, for instance, how the artist creatively juxtaposes the seemingly spontaneous looping lines describing clouds against the mechanically regular horizontal lines of the sky to suggest the lightness of the clouds and the oppressive heat of the sky—for AU$251 in total (currently US$182.36/EUR163.28/GBP136.04 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 fascinating 19^th century view of life in the Kasbah of Algiers, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.