“Vue de la Ville de Maaslins (Hollande)“, etching by Johan Barthold Jongkind, printed in 1862, 3rd state (of IV). Size (scene): 22 x 31 cm.
Johan Barthold Jongkind (1819-1891) was a key figure in 19th-century painting and pioneer of Impressionism. He was born in the Netherlands but lived most of his life in France, where he befriended artists such as Claude Monet, Eugène Boudin, Charles-François Daubigny and Camille Pissarro. Apart from town views, Jongkind mainly painted coastal and river landscapes.
Jongkind belonged to a group of innovative and progressive artists in Paris and he was open to new initiatives. One of these was the foundation of a company that aimed to revive the art of etching. Lithography had boomed in the early 19th century, but by the second half lithography had become an ordinary means of illustration. In etching, it was felt, the artist’s true handwriting could be read. In 1862, the publisher Alfred Cadart founded the Société des Aquafortistes with the printer August Delâtre. Its aim was to publish albums of prints by living artists. Participants included Manet, Millet, and Jongkind. Jongkind’s first contribution was the etching Vue de la Ville de Maassluis, for the 1862 edition. Views of the port of Honfleur and the railway line along the harbour followed later. Baudelaire was one of the first to see Jongkind’s etchings. He wrote an article under the title “l’Eauforte est à la mode” in 1862: “Jongkind has committed his secret dreams to paper, a peculiarly condensed version of his painting; they are sketches that all enthusiasts accustomed to reading the soul of an artist can appreciate even from the very quickest ‘scribbles’.”
Jongkind had perfected his own style around 1860. He had left ‘heavy’ realism behind then, but was not yet as frivolous as impressionism. He sketched and watercoloured in the open air, trying to capture exactly what was happening in front of him. This usually focused on the atmosphere surrounding an object to be painted, rather than the object itself.
His works are in all major painting and print collections around the world.
Price: Euro 1.650,-
