L'Ermite Sous Les Arbres (The Hermit Under The Trees)
1865/66
Medium
Etching; second state of two (Van Gelder)
Dimensions
Mount: 7 13/16 × 5 1/4 in. (19.8 × 13.4 cm) Sheet: 4 1/2 × 1 7/8 in. (11.5 × 4.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The J. B. Neumann Collection, Gift of Dr. Franz H. Hirschland, 1952
Accession Number
52.508.3
Art Historical Context
Rodolphe Bresdin'sL'Ermite Sous Arbres* (Theit Under the Trees), created around 1865–66, captures a solitary figure nestled beneath a canopy of ancient trees in an etching that exemplifies the artist's visionary Romanticism. Bresdin, a lesser-known but influential French printmaker of the 19th century was celebrated for his intricate, dreamlike landscapes that evoke mystery and introspection. Admired by poets like Charles Baudelaire, he drew inspiration from masters such as Albrecht Dürer and Rembrandt, blending detail with fantastical elements to transport viewers into poetic realms. This in...
About the Artist
Rodolphe Bresdin · 1822–1885
Rodolphe Bresdin (1822–1885) was a visionary French draughtsman, engraver, and lithographer whose fantastical imagery captured the empathy of rural poverty and the wild exuberance of the imagination. Born on August 12, 1822, in Montrelais near Le Fresne-sur-Loire in Brittany, he grew up in the Breton countryside amid its bardic folklore traditions before a family dispute left him homeless in Paris...