Flameng Charles Meryon 1858 {1891} NGV [ET]

Flameng, Léopold (1831-1911; Belgian/French)
Charles Meryon 1858
Etching, size unknown
Purchased, 1891 (advice of Hubert von Herkomer)
National Gallery of Victoria (p.186.6-1)

Purchased in 1891 together with Meryon 6 etchings {1891} NGV [ET], this print was listed in the early NGV catalogues as “Meryon mad” (referring to the artist’s unfortunate later circumstances).

In both NGV 1894 and 1905, it is described as a “proof before letters”; in NGV 1905 it is termed a soft ground etching. In other sources, where this portrait is also sometimes described as a heliogravure print, Meryon’s praise for it is said to have initiated Flameng’s long and successful career as a print-maker, illustrator and painter.

A more intense and incisive etched portrait of Meryon during his heyday was produced by Félix Braquemond (1833-1914) in 1853.

Refs.

AR 1891, p.26; NGV 1894, p.59 (II.Stawell Gallery, no.97); NGV 1905, p.72 (II.Stawell Gallery, no.145) [£3/3]

For Flameng, see Bénézit 5, pp.774-75 and AKL 41 (2004), pp.64-65; and for the reference to Meryon’s praise of Flamen, see https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Léopold_Flameng (accessed 10 Nov.2018). For Braquemond’s portrait of Meryon, see e.g. https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/40.63.13/