Saint Sulpice, Paris: La Grande Tour

Art Historical Context

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan's *Saint Sulpice, Paris: La Grande Tour* (1900) captures the majestic presence of one of the towers of the iconic Église Saint-Sulpice Paris's Saint-Germain-des-Prés district This etching showcases MacLaughlan's mastery in depicting European architecture during the etching revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A Canadian-American artist who spent much of his career in Paris and Italy, MacLaughlan was renowned for his atmospheric prints that evoke the grandeur and subtle light of historic landmarks, blending precision with poetic mood. Rendered in black ink on luxurious cream wove Japanese paper—a medium prized for its soft texture and ability to hold fine details—the 29.7 × 23.6 cm image highlights the etching technique's versatility. Etching involves coating a metal plate with acid-resistant ground, scratching designs into it, and immersing it in acid to etch lines of varying depth, allowing for rich tonal contrasts and intricate architectural details like the tower's ornate stonework and shadowed recesses. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department, this work reflects Paris's enduring allure as a hub of artistic inspiration at the fin de siècle. MacLaughlan's etching not only preserves the church's imposing silhouette but also invites viewers to appreciate the technical elegance of printmaking as a democratic art form, bridging fine art and everyday wonder.

About the Artist

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan · 1876–1938

Donald Shaw MacLaughlan (1876–1938) was born on November 9 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, though he is recognized as an American artist after his family relocated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1890. There, as a teenager, he immersed himself in the Boston Public Library's collections of old master prints, studying works by Albrecht Dürer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and eighteenth-century E...