A Pond
1867
Medium
Etching; first state of three
Dimensions
Plate: 12 3/8 × 9 7/16 in. (31.5 × 24 cm) Sheet: 18 9/16 × 13 13/16 in. (47.1 × 35.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Theodore De Witt, 1917
Accession Number
17.22.3
Tags
Art Historical Context
Adolphe Appian's *A Pond* (1867) is a serene etching that captures the quiet beauty of nature, featuring a tranquil pond surrounded by lush landscapes and subtle hints of birds in flight. Created as the first state of three, print represents an early proof before the artist refined it further, offering collectors a glimpse into Appian's meticulous creative process. Measuring 12 3/8 × 9 7/16 inches on the plate its intimate scale draws viewers into the watery reflections and textured foliage. Appian, a prominent French artist of the Barbizon school, excelled in etchings that celebrated the una...
About the Artist
Adolphe Appian · 1818–1898
Adolphe Appian, born Jacques Barthélemy Adolphe Appian in Lyon, France, on August 28, 1819, began his artistic training at the age of fifteen at the École des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. There, he studied under the landscape painters Jean-Michel Grobon and Augustin Alexandre Thierrat, initially focusing on fabric decoration for the city's thriving silk industry. This practical grounding in drawing honed h...