Charles Émile Jacque’s etching, “Pastorale”, 1864

Charles Émile Jacque (1813–1894)

“Pastorale” (plate title) (aka “Pastoral Scene” [MET title]), 1864, after Charles Jacque’s painting of the same composition, from an untitled series of twenty-four etchings published in 1864 (Guiffrey [1866] cat. nos. 177–212) and printed by Sarazin (aka Sarasin) (fl. c1846–1880) in Paris.

Etching on chine collé on heavy wove paper, trimmed around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet providing wide margins.

Size: (support sheet) 34.5 x 26.3 cm; (sheet) 17 x 11.4 cm; (chine collé) 14.5 x 11.4 cm; (image borderline) 13.4 x 10.5 cm.

Lettered on plate below the image borderline: (left) “Ch. Jacque pinx^t sculp^t”; (centre) “PASTORALE”; (right) “Imp, Sarazin, Paris”.

State iv (of iv)

Guiffrey 180 (J.-J. Guiffrey 1866, “L'Oeuvre de Ch. Jacque”, Paris, Lemaire, p. 90, cat. no. 180); IFF 283 (Jean Adhémar, Jacques Lethève 1954, “Inventaire du Fonds Francais Apres 1800”, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, vol. 11, p. 114, cat. no. 283); Beraldi 4/180 (Henri Beraldi 1885, “Les Graveurs du dix-neuvième siècle”, Paris, Librairie L. Conquet, vol. 8, p. 187, cat. no. 4 [180]: https://archive.org/details/lesgraveursdu19e08berauoft/page/187/mode/1up).

Guiffrey (1866) offers the following description of this print:

(transl.) “Under the shade of a willow and a few other trees, a young peasant sitting on a mound of greenery bends over her elbow, listening to the words of the young shepherd seated near her and armed with a crook. At their feet, the sheep and lambs graze quietly, while the dog watches over the herd, detaching its dark silhouette against a background of sun-drenched trees” (p. 90).

See also the descriptions of this print offered by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/829838; https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1889-0608-211.

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (near faultless) impression, trimmed with a narrow margin around the image borderline and laid onto a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper providing wide margins. The sheet is in excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing.

I am selling this exceptionally beautiful and ultra-fine masterpiece of 19th century etching executed by one of the luminaries of the Barbizon School for AU$218 (currently US$144.97/EUR140.30/GBP121.98 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 technically stunning etching exemplifying the artist’s romantic vision of rural life in France before the advent of industrialisation, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.