{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O653910"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O653910/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PU6453/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2026PU6453/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2026PU6453","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2026PU6209","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KK6272","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O653910/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O653910","accessionNumber":"19759","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"The gallery of Notre-Dame, Paris","type":"assigned by artist"},{"title":"La Galerie Notre-Dame","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"This etching by Charles Meryon (1821-1868) depicts Paris, a favourite subject for the artist. After spending time in the navy, which included a four-year voyage around the world which he documented in sketches and subsequent prints, Meryon trained with the engraver Eugène Bléry in Paris, at which point he began to focus his attention on documenting the city. Meryon produced a suite of etchings of Paris, under the title <i>Eaux-forte sur Paris</i>, published by the artist in three parts between 1852 and 1854; usually two at a time. Comprising 22 prints, this suite was never sold as a series during his lifetime, despite the fact Meryon made a frontispiece for suite (19745).\r\nMany of Meryon’s prints of Paris focus on capturing the medieval buildings and narrow cobbled roads of the city. Between 1853 and 1870, Baron Georges-Eugène Haussmann was Prefect of the Seine, and he had a radical plan for urban renewal which involved the construction of new boulevards, parks and public works, as well as the demolition of older aspects of the city. Various etchings by Meryon depict these areas destined for destruction, including <i>La Morgue</i> (E.3046-1931 and 19754), one from<i> Eaux-forte sur Paris</i>. <i>La Morgue</i>, which depicts the mortuary on the Ile de la Cité, was a site of architectural interest, described by nineteenth-century French writer Edmond Texier as “a meeting place, a sort of destination”, and was surrounded by similarly medieval residences and buildings. The entire area was demolished in the years following the creation of this print. Another example is the <i>Tourelle, Rue de la Tixeranderie</i> (19751), which shows a house with a turret that, as is inscribed at the bottom of the print, was destroyed in 1851. Philip Gilbert Hamerton, a proponent of the nineteenth century etching revival, wrote of Meryon that, “it became, then, the object of this artist to make a series of etchings in which the old tourelles and quaint streets of Paris should be preserved for future times”. Other prints of Paris by Meryon capture the artist’s interest in fantastical subject matters. In <i>Le Styrge</i> (19748), the gargoyle on the parapet of a tower of Notre-Dame becomes a monstruous figure looking over Paris, as black birds fly ominously around. Similarly, in <i>Ministere de la Marine</i> (CIRC.33-1928 and 21164:56), fantastical beasts fly through the sky. \r\nCharles Meryon was a forerunner to the nineteenth century etching revival in France, and he was widely celebrated by etchers and critics writing about the etching revival later in the nineteenth century. The 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. Meryon, working in the 1850s, introduced some of the key themes that the etching revival artists took up, notably the interest in documenting the older parts of the French capital, the focus on documenting daily life, and the close attention paid to the technique of etching itself. ","physicalDescription":"A view from the inside of Notre-Dame looking out to the city beyond through columns.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Meryon, Charles","id":"AUTH327619"},"association":{"text":"printmaker","id":"AAT25164"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper (fiber product)","id":"AAT14109"},{"text":"printing ink","id":"AAT187371"}],"techniques":[{"text":"etching (printing process)","id":"AAT53241"},{"text":"engraving (printing process)","id":"AAT53225"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Etching with engraving on paper.","categories":[{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"}],"styles":[{"text":"French","id":"AAT111188"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2026PU6453","2026PU6209","2017KK6272"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"UpObjectStore","id":"THES393033"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1853","earliest":"1853-01-01","latest":"1853-12-31"},"association":{"text":"published","id":"x30682"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"28.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Plate","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Plate","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"44.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"32.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"Sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'C. Meryon del. sculp 1853'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Signed and dated lower left"},{"content":"'Imp. Rue N<sup>e</sup> S<sup>t</sup> Etienne-du-Mont 26'","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":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'La Galerie Notre-Dame' (The gallery of Notre-Dame, Paris), etching with engraving by Charles Meryon, fourth state of six, part of the series <i>Eaux-fortes sur Paris</i>, Paris, 1853","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"Schneiderman, Richard S. The Catalogue Raisonné of the Prints of Charles Meryon. (London: Garton & Co, 1900)","id":"AUTH412812"},"details":"","free":""}],"production":"State 4 of 6.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Paris","id":"x29068"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Notre Dame Cathedral","id":"x42940"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["19759"],"accessionNumberNum":"19759","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":null,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-09-21","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}