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S. 212 x 278 mm.
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Le Cavalier dans
les Roseaux
Robaut 3145,
Delteil 22, Melot 22
lithograph,
1871, on
fine ivory-yellow wove paper*, the 1st state (of 2), before the
addition
of the signature, a very fine and delicate impression, printed to the
sheet edges, one of the extremely rare trial proofs (Robaut mentions "3
or 4 trial proofs" and rates this state "RRR"; Delteil notes "only a
few proofs") before the first and sole 1872 album edition; some slight
undulations from the press, a minuscule tear (2 mm) in the upper
margin, traces of old hinges on the reverse, otherwise
in excellent condition
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Provenance: the Henri J.
Delacroix collection, with the HD wetstamp on the reverse
(Lugt 3604)
This masterful print
depicts a windswept scene in the dunes near Boulogne-sur-Mer,
on the North Sea. While staying with Robaut at Douai during the
Commune in the spring of 1871, Corot executed a series of 12
lithographs**
with the distinctive free handling of his late manner.
It should be noted that
the original composition in the present impression is somewhat
larger than in the edition (of which Delteil gives the dimensions
as 211 x 267 mm, and Melot as 215 x 268 mm, although this may
concern the 1st state impression in the Bibliothèque Nationale),
the design field having ostensibly been squared off by Lemercier,
which is especially visible to the right. The present impression
is also much finer than the standard edition, the printing of which is,
according to Robaut, "heavier and sparer."
The printing of the present
proof in gray ink may well be unique, as the edition is in black (like
the other two
proof impressions we have seen, that in the BN and another in a private
Parisian collection). Corot used different colours for printing
different lithographs in the album, and the present proof seems to be a
colour trial. The ivory-yellow colour of the paper should also support this.
* In view of the fine
woven texture in evidence on the reverse, this paper, often confused
with chine volant, is more clearly a kind of bulle.
It
is well known that Corot experimented with a variety of fine papers,
even hand-tinting trial proofs in order to induce different atmospheric
effects. Whereas the edition was on a light purplish-grey paper,
the present 1st state impression is on a fine ivory-yellow wove
paper, different from that of the Bibliothèque Nationale (originally in
the Alfred Robaut collection).
** Technically speaking
an autographie, this term referring to Corot's "original
drawings" on lithographic transfer paper.
