075

  • La Galerie Notre Dame (Notre Dame Passageway)

  • 1853
  • Charles Meryon (French 1821-1868), printed by Auguste Delâtre
    (French 1822-1907)
  • Etching and engraving on chine-collé
  • 28.3 x 17.5 cm., 11-1/8 x 6-7/8" image
  • Catherine Carter Goebel, Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts Purchase, Paul A. Anderson Art History Collection, Augustana College 2000.29

Essay by Alisha Boley, Class of 2006

Despite his color blindness, Meryon clearly possessed a unique sensitivity to subtle variations in shades of certain colors and the delicate gradations of light and dark, making the primarily black-and-white medium of etching a perfect choice (Southgate 105). He embraced the technique wholeheartedly, focusing his attention on medieval Gothic architecture. This choice of subject was inspired at least in part by the current Parisian reconstruction initiated by French ruler Napoleon III, who hoped to improve the poor living conditions of lower class sections of old Paris. The streets there were narrow, dark and dirty, as they were arranged like a labyrinth, making travel difficult and ultimately promoting disease through lack of ventilation. Meryon and some of his contemporaries openly objected to this plan for demolition and to the advancement of progress in general. His primary means of protest was recorded in his series of etchings of sights in old Paris that were slated for destruction. He identified with the spirit of these old Gothic buildings in an intensely personal manner, indicative of a Romantic temperament, beyond what other artists ever achieved. His accurate, highly-detailed renderings of architecture and use of careful preliminary drawings, reflect the influence that traditional academic classicism had on his technique.

La Galerie Notre Dame is one of six etchings by Meryon of the impressive Parisian Cathedral of Notre Dame, also a source of inspiration for Victor Hugo. Meryon typically coupled his bold chiaroscuro, contrast of light and shadow, with painstakingly accurate attention to detail that earned him much praise. The shadows are strongly emphasized, almost exaggerated, for effect. He also employed his own brand of iconography in many of his works, such as the crows added here, some flying in the background sky, and others landing within the passageway, which smoothly connect interior and exterior spaces. Since Meryon held a rather high-minded, rigid sense of morality (Bradley 31), they may also have represented the degraded moral state of Paris as he saw it, perhaps symbolizing that old Paris, in its current state, had effectively "gone to the birds" (DeLamoreaux 88).