Chartreuse de Bosserville: vue générale

Dimensions gravure  7,5cmx16,5cm

Original etching by Claude Émile Thiéry, signed in the plate. Émile Thiéry published his collection of etchings of La Chartreuse de Bosserville, near Nancy, in 1861, This proof was printed from the original plate in 1963, just over a hundred years later, and included in a lavish portfolio of original prints entitled La Chartreuse de Bosserville vue par des graveurs lorrains. The plates were printed on B.F.K. Rives by Georges Leblanc in Paris. The portfolio was published in an edited of 220 copies, by Le Comité de Restauration de la Chartreuse de Bosserville. While the text accompanying the plates mentions the 15 contemporary printmakers, there is no mention of the inclusion of a selection of Thiery's original etchings, although these are enclosed in a folder printed with the artist's name, with each plate tissue guarded, exactly as for the contemporary printmakers. Our copy has Thiery's etched title page plus 5 etchings number II to VII. Etching no. III is missing from this sequence, and we have no way of knowing whether the plate for this image was missing, or the proof of etching III has previously been removed, or was never included, either deliberately or by accident. This is plate II, but there is a ghost V before the II, showing that the printer was understandably muddled by the fact that plate VII has the same title. There is one small and insignificant foxmark in the lower margin, well away from the image. To see the works by the modern printmakers, simply enter La Chartreuse de Bosserville in the search box. Condition: Excellent, see description.