House with a Turret, rue de la Tixéranderie, Paris

Art Historical Context

This evocative etching, House with a Turret, de la Tixérie, Paris, offers a glimpse of historic Parisian street life around 1881–82 Attributed to Charles Meryon and Edmond Gelin, it was created as an etching on laid paper, a printmaking process in which lines are incised into a metal plate and bitten with acid. This medium excels at capturing delicate textures, architectural details, and atmospheric depth, making it ideal for documenting the character of old buildings. Meryon, a leading 19th-century French etcher, was renowned for his meticulous views of Paris that often highlighted vanishing medieval structures amid the city’s modernization. The turreted house on rue de la Tixéranderie stands as a charming remnant of that earlier urban fabric, its distinctive tower evoking the layered history of the French capital. Gosselin’s involvement likely reflects a later printing or interpretive collaboration that kept such imagery in circulation. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this compact yet richly detailed print (the plate measures roughly 9½ by 5 inches) invites close looking. It reminds us how etchings like this preserved the memory of Paris’s historic neighborhoods, blending technical virtuosity with a quiet sense of place and time.

About the Artist

Charles Meryon|Edmond Gosselin · 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...