The Mortuary, Paris
Medium
etching and drypoint on cream laid paper
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.288,"width":0.24},"image":{"height":0.212,"width":0.189},"plate":{"height":0.23,"width":0.206}}
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Leonard C. Hanna Jr.
Accession Number
1937.633
Tags
About this artwork
Charles Meryon used etching—a technique that involves drawing on a printing plate with a needle’s point—to create minutely detailed images of Paris that imaginatively present recognizable sites. This print features bateaux-lavoirs (wash boats) on the Seine River, where laundresses could purchase a spot to do their washing. The boats appealed to Meryon, who was fascinated by Paris’s gradual transformation. Since they attracted crowds of working-class women, administrators considered the boats uns...