New Caledonia: Large native hut on the road from Balade to Puebo, 1845

Art Historical Context

Charles Meryon’s 1863 etching depicts a large indigenous hut along the road from Balade tobo in New Caled, a scene dated to 1845. Created on laid paper, the compact plate captures human figures, thatched architecture, a winding road, and surrounding hills in a quiet Pacific landscape. Meryon a French printmaker renowned for his precise and atmospheric etchings, brought the same meticulous line work seen in his famous Paris views to this distant subject. Etching allowed him to incise fine details into a metal plate with acid, producing rich textures in the hut’s roof, the rugged terrain, and the subtle play of light across the scene. The work reflects mid-19th-century European interest in Pacific islands amid exploration and colonial expansion, offering a rare visual record of Kanak-style dwellings and daily life from that era. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Drawings and Prints collection (acquired via the Rogers Fund in 1917), the print invites viewers to consider both artistic technique and historical encounter. It stands as an engaging document of a specific place and moment, rendered with the clarity and mood that define Meryon’s contribution to the 19th-century etching revival.

About the Artist

Charles Meryon · 1821–1868

Charles Meryon, born on November 23, 1821, in Paris, was the illegitimate son of English physician Dr. Charles Lewis Meryon and dancer Pierre-Narcisse Chaspoux (stage name Narcisse Gentil) at the Paris Opéra. His half-sister Fanny, from his mother's prior relationship with Viscount Lowther, remained in contact after their mother's death in 1838. Raised partly outside Paris before attending Pension...