Preview
Creation Date
After 1860 (reproduction), ca. 1641 (original)
Geography
France
Culture
French
Medium
Photogravure (reproduction), etching (original)
Dimensions
With frame: 11 1/2 × 14 7/16 × 1 13/16 in. (29.2 × 36.8 × 4.6 cm)
Credit Line
Long-term Loan from the Estate of Boris Blick, 2015
Accession Number
2015.85
Provenance
According to Professor Sarah Blick, this print was possibly purchased by Boris Blick from Stagecoach Antiques (now closed) in Akron, Ohio.
Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings
Pencil on back of frame, upper right corner: "No. 286 . ARTIST A. DURAND / 18th c. / etching"
Even though the back of this print is not visible within the frame, photogravures by Charles Amand-Durand are stamped in red on the verso with a symmetrical stamp consisting of a circle divided by three parallel vertical lines intersected by one horizontal line, with two more parallel lines running horizontally across the top and bottom of the circle. Details on Amand-Durand’s stamp can be found in Frits Lugt’s “Les marques de collections de dessins & d’estampes” (Lugt 2934).
Creator Biography
Charles Amand-Durand, French, 1831–1905 (photogravurist).
Claude Lorrain, French, 1600–1682 (etcher of original).
Description
The photogravure depicts a sea port with a large stone tower in the foreground. Figures are shown at work unloading the large docked ships, with flags and sails billowing in the wind.
Charles Amand-Durand is known for perfecting the photogravure, also known as heliogravure, process. He created facsimiles of prints selected by the curator of the Department of Prints at the Bibliothèque Nationale, Georges Duplessis (1834–1899). Their goal was to disseminate reproductions of old masterpiece engravings whose original prints were only available to the wealthy. One of the artists whose work they chose to reproduce was Claude Gellée, also known as Claude Lorrain, a 17th century French landscape painter, and original etcher of “Le port de mer a la grosse tour” (“Harbour with a large tower”).