Collège Henri IV, Paris, ou Lycée Napoléon (Henry IV College or Napoleon School, Paris)
1864
Medium
etching on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 22 × 41.3 cm (8 11/16 × 16 1/4 in.) plate (cut to platemark): 24.5 × 43 cm (9 5/8 × 16 15/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.6148
Art Historical Context
Charles Meryon’s *Collège Henri IV, Paris ou Lycée Napoléon (1864) invites visitors to glimpse the architectural splendor of one of Paris’s most storied institutions. This etching depicts the historic Collège Henri IV—also known as Lycée Napoléon during theonic era—a prestigious secondary school founded in the 17th century and housed in a grand Renaissance-style building on the Left Bank. Meryon, a visionary French artist celebrated for his *Eaux-Fortes sur* series, immortalized the city’s Gothic and classical landmarks just as Baron Haussmann’s sweeping urban renovations were transforming the...
About the Artist
Charles Meryon · 1821–1868
Charles Meryon, born on November 23, 1821, in Paris, was the illegitimate son of English physician Dr. Charles Lewis Meryon and dancer Pierre-Narcisse Chaspoux (stage name Narcisse Gentil) at the Paris Opéra. His half-sister Fanny, from his mother's prior relationship with Viscount Lowther, remained in contact after their mother's death in 1838. Raised partly outside Paris before attending Pension...