The Deluge (L'Inondation)

Art Historical Context

Charles Guilloux’s “The Deluge (L’Inondation)” of 1893 captures a dramatic flood scene through the luminous effects of color lithography. Created on wove paper, the print’s modest image size belies the expansive mood it evokes, demonstrating how late-nineteenth-century artists harnessed this reproductive medium to convey atmospheric depth and emotional resonance. Lithography allowed Guilloux to layer translucent colors and achieve subtle tonal gradations impossible in earlier print techniques. By 1893 the process had matured into a respected artistic form, enabling wider audiences to experience original designs without sacrificing quality or expressive range. Housed in the National Gallery of Art as part of the Virginia and Ira Jackson gift, the work reflects the period’s growing interest in nature’s overwhelming force. Its title hints at both biblical echoes and contemporary anxieties about environmental upheaval, inviting quiet contemplation of humanity’s place within vast, uncontrollable forces.