Charles Jacque’s sheet of two etchings

Charles Jacque (aka Charles Émile Jacque; Charles Jaque) (1813–1894)

Sheet of two etchings:

(upper) “Le Crépuscule” (Twilight), 1841, after Louis Marvy (aka Louis Maruy) (1815–1850);

(lower) “Le Vieux Pauvre” (The Old Poor) (aka “Cul-de-jatte”), 1861.

Soft-ground etchings with drypoint and roulette printed on the same sheet of fine wove paper with the blindstamp of the publisher, L Curmer (fl.1840s–1860s) and address in Paris.

Size: (sheet) 27.5 x 21.6 cm; (borderline of upper image) 4.7 x 13.5 cm; (borderline of lower image) 9.5 x 7 cm.

Lettered in plate above the upper image borderline: (centre) “CH. JACQUE.”

Lettered on plate below the upper image borderline: (left) “Louis Marvy inv.”; (right) “Ch. Jacque sculp.”

Lettered on plate below the lower image borderline: (centre) “Ch. Jacque inv. & sculp./ Le Vieux Pauvre.”

Guiffrey 273 & 275 (undescribed states) (J-J Guiffrey 1866, “L'Oeuvre de Charles Jacque: catalogue de ses eaux-fortes et pointes seches”, Paris, p. 117, cat. nos. 273 & 275); IFF 6 & 7 (Bibliothèque nationale, Département des estampes [verzamelaar] 1930–, “Inventaire du fonds français après 1800”, vol. 11, Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, p. 99, cat. nos. 6 & 7).

Guiffrey (1866) offers the following descriptions of the upper and lower prints (transl):

(upper) “Along a river that flows to the left passes a road on which travels a heavy wagon. On the right, some trees & a smoking chimney. The sky is almost invaded by the night.”

(lower) “A long-bearded legless beggar, his head covered with a high hat, holds a basket with both hands. His staff is in front of him lying across.” (p. 117).

The British Museum offers the following description of this sheet of etchings: “Two individual scenes, printed on the same sheet; in the upper part, a landscape at dusk, after Marvy; in the lower part, an old beggar, sitting on the ground, holding a basket, a walking stick under his legs” (https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1865-1209-744).

See also the description of the upper print offered by the Rijksmuseum: http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.128700.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed impressions in an excellent condition with no tears, holes, folds, abrasions or significant stains.

I am selling this pair of museum-quality impressions on a full sheet—these prints are usually (shamefully) separated—for AU$314 in total for both prints (currently US$209.40/EUR192.29/GBP162.15 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$314) as this is my currency.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare sheet of darkly glowing etchings, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

Note that I have listed different impressions of the same prints previously (they are now sold).