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S. 218 x 279 mm.
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Le Cavalier
dans les Roseaux
Robaut 3145,
Delteil 22, Melot 22
lithograph, 1871, on
fine ivory-grey wove paper*, the 1st state (of 2), before the
addition of the signature, a very fine and delicate impression,
printed to the sheet edges, one of the extremely rare trial proofs
(Robaut mentions "3 or 4 trial proofs" and rates this
state "RRR"; Delteil notes "only a few proofs")
before the first and sole 1872 album edition ; a slight triangular
paper loss in the upper right corner, some light-staining and
nicking along the extreme upper edge, and slight discolouration
at the four corners, otherwise in very good condition
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Provenance: the Henri
M. Petiet collection, with the HMP wetstamp on the reverse (not cited
in Lugt)
This masterful print
depicts a windswept scene in the dunes near Boulogne-sur-Mer,
on the North Sea. While staying with Robaut at Douai during the
Commune in the spring of 1871, Corot executed a series of 12 lithographs**
with the distinctive free handling of his late manner.
It should be noted that
the original composition in the present impression is somewhat
larger than in the edition (of which Delteil gives the dimensions
as 211 x 267 mm, and Melot as 215 x 268 mm, although this may
concern the 1st state impression in the Bibliothèque Nationale),
the design field having ostensibly been squared off by Lemercier,
which is especially visible to the right. The present impression
is also much finer than the edition, the printing of which is,
according to Robaut, "heavier and sparer."
* In view of the fine
woven texture in evidence on the reverse, this paper, often confused
with chine volant, is more clearly a kind of bulle. It
is well known that Corot experimented with a variety of fine papers,
even hand-tinting trial proofs in order to induce different atmospheric
effects. Whereas the edition was on a light purplish-grey paper,
the present 1st state impression is on the same fine greyish wove
paper as that of the Bibliothèque Nationale (originally
from the Alfred Robaut collection).
** Technically speaking
an autographie, this term referring to Corot's "original
drawings" on lithographic transfer paper.
