René Pinard, “Le Pont de la Poissonnerie à Nantes”, 1930

René Pinard (1883–1938) — official painter to the navy (see https://www.bretagneancienne.com/en/creator/painter-engraver/pinard)

“Le Pont de la Poissonnerie à Nantes” (The Fish Market Bridge in Nantes), 1930, a pencil-signed impression with the artist’s red monogram stamp and pencil numbered 156 in an edition of 180 copies.

Etching with pale plate tone printed in a blue-black ink on fine pale blue laid paper (watermarked), pencil-signed with the artist’s monogram seal and the edition number 150/180. The sheet is trimmed within the platemark along the lower edge.

Size: (sheet) 44.8 x 53.8 cm; (platemark) [?] x 52.5 cm; (image borderline) 40.2 x 50.5 cm.

Marcetteau-Paul&Guillaume 66 (Agnès Marcetteau-Paul & Guillaume Chateau 1992, “Rene Pinard, Graveur, 1883–1938”, Nantes, Bibliothèque Municipale, cat. no. 66).

See also the description of this print and other works of René Pinard offered by Joconde (Collections des Musées de France), ref. no. 42: http://www2.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&DOM=All&FIELD_3=AUTR&REL_SPECIFIC=3&VALUE_3=PINARD%20Ren%e9.

From what I understand (and there is more than a possibility that I may be wrong) the portrayed bridge earned its name as the “Fish Market Bridge” (Le Pont de la Poissonnerie) in the 15^th century as it served to divide the local fish market occurring on the banks of the river according to the type of fish sold: upstream from the bridge, fresh fish were available; downstream from the bridge, salted fish were available. The site of the market (in terms of choice of the bridge bank) seems to have varied, but in the 15^th century the market lay on the island of Saulzaie side of the bridge. Needless to say, the bridge and its design changed over the centuries, but its name has remained (see https://patrimonia.nantes.fr/home/decouvrir/themes-et-quartiers/poissonnerie-feydeau.html).

Condition: a richly inked and well-printed (faultless) impression. The sheet has small margins around the image borderline and the lower margin is within the platemark, otherwise the sheet is in a pristine condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or stains.

I am selling this very beautiful etching—an impressively large print revealing not only the artist’s ability to capture the effect of light and reflections on water, but also his creative invention in the wiping of the plate at upper right to enhance the suggestion of clouds—for AU $308 in total (currently/approximately US $202.51/EUR 188.65/ GBP 161.40 at the time of posting this listing) including Express Mail (EMS) postage and handling to anywhere in the world, but not (of course) any import duties/taxes imposed by some countries. Note that payment is in Australian dollars (AU $308) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in acquiring this huge etching of an historically important bridge in Nantes (France), please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.