Bastion 49
1871
Medium
etching on wove paper
Dimensions
image: 8.8 × 14.1 cm (3 7/16 × 5 9/16 in.) plate: 16.2 × 20.9 cm (6 3/8 × 8 1/4 in.) sheet: 25.4 × 30 cm (10 × 11 13/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Carol and James Goodfriend
Accession Number
2021.113.27
Art Historical Context
**Bastion 49** *Maxime Lalanne, 1871* Etching on wove paper Created in 1871, *Bastion 49* is a delicate etching by French artist Maxime Lalanne, capturing a moment amid the turmoil of the Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune. Lalanne, a master etcher renowned for his precise depictions of Parisian architecture and urban life, turned his gaze to the city's defenses during the Siege of Paris (1870–71). The title refers to one of the numbered bastions along Paris's Thiers Wall, fortified ramparts that symbolized the city's desperate resistance against Prussian forces. This small-scale...
About the Artist
Maxime Lalanne
François Antoine Maxime Lalanne (1827–1886) was born in Bordeaux into a family of civil servants, initially pursuing classical studies and a law career. At the Institution Oré, he learned drawing from instructor Saulnier and showed early promise, exhibiting pencil and pastel works at Bordeaux's Philomathique Society in 1850, where he earned a bronze medal. Encouraged by architect Léo Drouyn, Lalan...