Petit Pont, Paris
Medium
etching with engraving on Japanese paper
Dimensions
image: 24.6 × 18.8 cm · sheet: 26.4 × 19.6 cm
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1953.10
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
Charles Meryon used etching—a technique that involves drawing on a printing plate with a needle’s point—to create minutely detailed images of Paris that imaginatively present recognizable sites. This print features bateaux-lavoirs (wash boats) on the Seine River, where laundresses could purchase a spot to do their washing. The boats appealed to Meryon, who was fascinated by Paris’s gradual transformation. Since they attracted crowds of working-class women, administrators considered the boats uns...