Pont-Gibaud Castle
Medium
Lithograph in black on light gray chine collé laid down on ivory wove paper; only state
Dimensions
Sheet: 14 9/16 × 21 9/16 in. (37 × 54.8 cm) Image: 8 11/16 × 12 3/16 in. (22 × 31 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William M. Ivins Jr., 1922
Accession Number
22.85.1
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the Romantic spirit of early 19th-century France, *Pont-Gibaud Castle* (1830) captures the evocative ruins of a medieval fortress in Auvergne through the masterful collaboration of painter Eugène Isabey and lithographer Godefroy Engelmann. Isabey, known for his dramatic seascapes and architectural scenes, sketched the castle's towering silhouette against a moody sky, evoking the sublime beauty of nature reclaiming human grandeur. Engelmann, a pioneer in lithography, translated this into a crisp black-ink print on light gray chine collé—a delicate technique where a thin Chinese paper absorbs...
About the Artist
Eugène Isabey|Godefroy Engelmann
Eugène Isabey (1803–1886) was a French painter and lithographer known for his dramatic seascapes, coastal scenes, and historical compositions. Born in Paris, he was the son of the celebrated miniaturist and portraitist Jean-Baptiste Isabey, who provided his early artistic training. The younger Isabey studied briefly with various masters but was largely shaped by his father's studio and by his own ...