{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1078051"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1078051/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PR5238/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PR5238/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PR5238","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PR5237","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1078051/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1078051","accessionNumber":"20687","objectType":"Album","titles":[{"title":"Essais d'Eaux-Fortes par Hervier","type":"series title"}],"summaryDescription":"This album includes 20 etchings and a title-page, and was published under the title <i>Essais d’eaux-fortes par Hervier</i> (20687, 20687:1-21),by Cadart & Chevalier, which was a partnership between the French print publisher Alfred Cadart (1828-1875) and photographer Félix Chevalier from 1861 and 1863. The album is primarily comprised of maritime scenes, including depictions of fishing boats at sea and on the shore, as well as daily life by the sea. Louis-Adolphe Hervier was born in Paris but spent time in the port city of Le Havre, a location which frequently features in his prints. As well as seaside themes, some prints in this album depict other aspects of rural life, and other studies in which multiple small sketches are printed together on one plate. The prints in this album were made between 1844 and 1862; some are dated, often in reverse. Examples such as 20637:3 include two dates, 1844 and 1862, suggesting that the artist reworked his earlier plates for this publication. The V&A purchased this album directly from Cadart & Luquet in the 1860s for 25 francs. The compiler of the artist’s catalogue, Van Den Noort, suggests that the prints must have sold better as individual sheets, as few albums survive, suggesting most were broken up and the individual prints sold separately.\r\nIn 1862, the same year that Hervier’s series was published, the publisher Alfred Cadart founded the Société des Aquafortistes (Society of Etchers) with Joseph Jules Luquet (1824-1904) and the printer of this series, Auguste Delâtre (1822–1907). The aim of this society was to promote the practice of etching to artists and the general public. Etching had been practised by artists for centuries, but its popularity declined with the rise of lithography and the dominance of reproductive engraving. By the 1860s in France, however, a significant revival was underway. The nineteenth century etching revival, which occurred in France, Britain, and America, was characterised by artists reclaimed etching as an autonomous art form, aligning themselves with the tradition of the ‘peintre-graveur’ (painter-printmaker) and looking to earlier great masters of the medium, like Rembrandt. In this renewed context, etching was valued for its immediacy and originality, ideas that informed the foundation of the Société des Aquafortistes and its various publications, which includes<i> Eaux-Fortes Modernes</i>, <i>L’Illustration Nouvelle</i>, and <i>L’Eau Forte</i>. \r\n\r\nJan W. Van Den Noort, <i>Louis-Adolphe Hervier: Biographie et Catalogue de l’oeuvre gravé</i>, The Hague: Erven Berserik Uitgeverij, 2023, pp. 129-30.<i><i><i><i><i><i><i><i>\r\n","physicalDescription":"A bound volume including a title page and twenty etchings.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Hervier, Adolphe","id":"AUTH329314"},"association":{"text":"printmaker","id":"AAT25164"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Delâtre, Auguste","id":"A4334"},"association":{"text":"printer","id":"x30811"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Cadart","id":"A34159"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"x32600"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"}],"techniques":[{"text":"","id":""}],"materialsAndTechniques":"","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"Albums","id":"THES288636"}],"styles":[{"text":"French","id":"AAT111188"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2026PR5238","2026PR5237"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLH","id":"THES49654"},"free":"","case":"93","shelf":"A","box":"71"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Albums","id":"AAT26690"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1862","earliest":"1862-01-01","latest":"1862-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"44.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"17/12/2014","earliest":"2014-12-17","latest":"2014-12-17"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"31.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"17/12/2014","earliest":"2014-12-17","latest":"2014-12-17"},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"1.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"17/12/2014","earliest":"2014-12-17","latest":"2014-12-17"},"part":"volume","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'ESSAIS d'EAUX-FORTES PAR HERVIER 1863'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Centre"},{"content":"'CADART & CHEVALIER, ÉDITEURS.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Lower left"},{"content":"'Imp. Delâtre, Paris.'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Lower right"}],"objectHistory":"This album was purchased directly from Cadart & Luquet in the 1860s for 25 francs.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Album of prints, <i>Essais d'Eaux-Fortes par Hervier</i>, by Adolphe Hervier, published by Cadart & Chevalier, Paris, 1862","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Lettered on the front and spine: <i>Essais d'Eaux-Fortes par Hervier 1863</i>. Presumably it was bound the year after the series was printed in 1862. See objects 20687:1-21 for the etchings bound in this volume.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["20687"],"accessionNumberNum":"20687","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-09-03","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}