Etching with drypoint on Chine collé, 1854. 155x335 mm; 6 1/8x13 1/4 inches, full margins. Schneiderman's eleventh state (of 12), with the title lower center and with the artist's name and date removed. Hudelist watermark.
As Schneiderman explains, a narrative unfolds in the progression of this print which reveals Meryon's mental instability. "In states II-VII Hope, represented by the frail balloon Esperanza is carried on the winds towards the Palais de Justice. However, she is too late for the person in the hearse (on the bridge to the left). In states VIII-X large birds replace the balloon, similar to those in Le Stryge and La Galerie Notre-Dame, which seem to come from the Palais de Justice. Ominous and menacing, these birds portend evil occurrences. Although a calm returns to the scene in the XI and XII states, this print gives evidence of Meryon's fears," (Schneiderman, p. 82).
Meryon was first admitted to Charenton, a hospital for psychiatric patients, in 1858. Though he spent less than a year there, he was re-admitted to Charenton in 1866 and died of exhaustion and starvation in 1868.
A superb, richly-inked impression with strong contrasts. Schneiderman lists only 11 impressions altogether of state 11 in public collections and we have found only several additional impressions in this state at auction during the past 20 years. Schneiderman 40.
