Partie de la Cité vers la fin du XVIIe siècle (View of the City of Paris Towards the Close of the XVIIth Century)

Art Historical Context

Step into 17th-century Paris through Charles Meryon's masterful 1861 etching, *Partie de la Cité vers fin du XVIIe siècle (View of the City Paris Towards the Close of XVIIth Century). This print, measuring just 12.9 × 28.9 cm, captures the historic heart of city—the Île de la Cité—with its Gothic spires, bustling bridges, and winding Seine, evoking the grandeur of Louis XIV's era before Haussmann's sweeping renovations transformed Paris. Meryon, a pioneering 19th-century etcher, revived the medium's poetic potential during a revival of printmaking artistry. Working on laid paper, he incised fine lines into a metal plate, allowing acid to etch intricate details that blend architectural precision with atmospheric depth—rooftops shimmering in light, shadows pooling in alleys. This technique lent his works a haunting realism, bridging Romanticism and emerging modernism. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Rosenwald Collection (Department CG-E), this piece invites visitors to ponder Paris's layered history: a nostalgic gaze backward from 1861, preserving a vanishing urban poetry amid the city's relentless change.

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...