Daubigny’s success as a painter, the constantly increasing demand for his work, left him little time, as years went by, for etching. “If only I could paint a picture that wouldn’t sell,” he once said in sheer desperation, and, momentarily, his superb renderings of the mystery of evening and night accomplished his object, though now they are jealously guarded in some of the world’s finest collections. But to etch night, to suggest moonlight—there was a problem indeed! Whistler in his “Nocturnes” paints, so to speak, on his plate with printer’s ink. Daubigny relies on lines alone, to produce his result. “Night cannot be etched” is the dictum of more than one authority. No, nor sunlight either, nor clouds! None of these things can be pictured so that blind eyes can see them. But to those who will meet the etcher half way, who are content with a suggestion and are capable of reconstructing from it the artist’s mood, these simple linear plates of Daubigny’s last period are a revelation and a delight. Moonlight on the Banks of the Oise measures scant four by six inches, yet what a feeling of space there is in it! Only a born etcher could have succeeded by means so simple, and seemingly inadequate, in capturing the very spirit of such a scene.
Corot’s etched work comprises fourteen plates. It was not until 1845, when he was in his fiftieth year, that he made his first experiment. “Corot took a prepared copper-plate and drew in the outlines and masses of the well-known Souvenir of Tuscany, but did not proceed to the ‘biting in’ process. Some years later Félix Bracquemond discovered the plate in a nail-box at Corot’s studio and begged the master to complete it, offering to take charge of the ‘biting in.’ Corot then took the plate and added the tones and details of the final state.... There was something in the use of mordants and acids that seemed to frighten Corot, and he always called in some good friend such as Bracquemond, Michelin or Delaunay to assist in this delicate process.”[15]
[15] Le Père Corot. By Robert J. Wickenden. The Print-Collector’s Quarterly. Vol. 2, No. 3. p. 382.
In etching his method is as personal as in his painting. He entirely disregards all the accepted canons of the art. Line, as line, hardly exists in his plates; it is scribble, scribble, everywhere. The tree trunks, the rocks, foreground and distance, often the foliage itself, all are as “wrong as wrong can be,” so far as accurate representation is concerned. Yet Corot, great artist and great nature poet, can transgress every rule and still succeed in conveying his message. In the best of his etchings he does succeed admirably. Souvenir of Italy and Environs of Rome of 1865 (Corot was then nearly seventy years of age) are among the most interesting prints of the period. In these plates, and others like them, Corot has given free rein to his poetic and imaginative powers and has drawn upon his memory of the Italy of his youth. In method, in their disregard of line, form and texture, they are shining examples of what etching should not be. In decorative quality, poetic suggestion, and sentiment they are altogether delightful.
CAMILLE COROT. SOUVENIR OF ITALY
Size of the original etching, 11⅝ × 8⅝ inches
In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
JEAN-FRANÇOIS MILLET. THE GLEANERS
Size of the original etching, 7½ × 10 inches
In the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
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