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31. Fernand-Anne Cormon (1845-1926) The Temptation of Saint Anthony
Etching, 232 x 309 mm., Béraldi N.D.; B.N. Inv. N.D. Fine impression on laid paper with full margins, signed in pencil and with the artist’s blindstamp, ex collection: Alfred Beurdeley (Lugt 421); minor stains and foxing in the margins only. That the eminent and wildly successful history painter and teacher Fernand Cormon made prints (or at least one print) seems to be unknown to both Béraldi and the Bibliothèque Nationale. But here is an original etching, pencil signed by him, and with the collector's mark of one of the most illustrious collectors of French 19th-century prints. The scene, as expected, is a phantasmagoria, but of Cormon's own invention and unrelated to other famous depictions of the subject (Bosch, Brueghel, Schongauer, et al.). Cormon’s etching is presumably after one of his paintings (a painting of this subject is mentioned in the literature) and the delicacy of execution here may be intentional or may be the result of a lack of experience with etching technique. After all, this may well be his only etching. |
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