2. Charles Jacque
(1813-1894)

Le Chemin de Halage

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Jacque, Le Chemin de Halage

Le Chemin de Halage

Etching and drypoint, ca. 1864, 215 x 175 mm., Guiffrey 200 iii/iii, B. N. Inv. 303 iii/v. Fine, clear impression, before any text, on chine-appliqué with large margins ; foxing on the support sheet visible mostly verso. Guiffrey describes only three states, but this impression is before letters and from the first published edition and is therefore likely the B. N.’s third state of five. The subject of a couple of horses towing a boat through a canal is typical for Jacque, informal and unpretentious, but with the full feeling of open air, birds, trees in leaf and manual labor. It was meant less to impress connoisseurs and sophisticates than to reflect life in the country as it was, in its way an art of the people and for the people. Jacque was never a high-priced artist, and he still isn’t.