Charles Meryon: A Life

Devizes, Wiltshire, United Kingdom: Garton and Co,, 1999. Hard Back. Fine/Near Fine. 8 1/2" X 12. 299 Pages Indexed. Green cloth, Originally published at $95. The gold spine lettering follows the European printing tradition and is oriented opposite to American publishers. Another words the spine printing is upside down to Americans. Endpaper maps. Front corners very lightly bumped. Flawless interior with no marks or stamps. Contents in Eleven Chapters: The rue Rameau and Saint-Maurice, Early nineteenth-century Paris Childhood and Education, Naval School at Brest 1837-1839, The Voyage of the Rhin, Toulon and the portraits of Tikao Paris, Study under Charles-Francois PhelippesThe Years 1849-1858 From Prine-President to Emperor, and What if Meryon were Not Mad, The Pont-au-Change Life at the foot of Montmartre, The last two years of Meryon's life Death and Burial, and Meryon and townscape art The Etching Revival. Plus Acknowledgements, List of Illustrations, Manuscript Sources, and Select Bibliography. Four Appendices: Family Trees, The Officers and Crew of the Rhin, Meryon's Surviving Kinsfolk and Close Friends, and A Chronological Listing of the Prints. The story of Meryon based on letters, memoirs and stray memoranda written by Mryon, his family and his close friends, naval records both manuscript and published, contemporary press, exhibition and auction catalogues, and the personal papers of Meryon's contemporaries. The List of Illustrations gives titles, media, dimensions, dates, locations and other credits. Within the text and in captions to illustratiosn, titles are normally given in French, with translations when appropriate. Contains 104 illustrations of which one is a large centerfold-out of 1856. Dust jacketOn the reverse side of the San Francisco print are two color etchings. The dust jacket wrap-around illustrates the first state of the etching College Henri IV Paris 1863. Vincent van Gogh wrote, This Meryon puts into his etchings something of the human soul, moved by, I do not know what, inner sorrow. Few 19th century artist have been more in need of an authoritative biography than Charles Meryon. Myths and mis-information were deliberately developed about Meryon after his death. Collins's biography is the product of 40 years' research. He read every known letter and the artist's medical records. The picture that emerges is very different from Sir Frederick Wedmore's biography published 100 years ago. Collins sees Meryon's life as a whole, rather than focusing on his years as an artist. The first five chapters are concerned Meryon before he ever touched an etching needle. Collins helps us understand the qualities in his prints, which so fascinated his contemporaries, and which secured his reputation as one of the greatest printmakers of all time. Attractive large heavy book that will incur addtional shipping charges to most locations.