Water Dock and Brambles at a Sluice
1843
Medium
etching [proof] on chine on wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 39 x 50.6 cm (15 3/8 x 19 15/16 in.) sheet: 50.2 x 63.8 cm (19 3/4 x 25 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Ruth Fine and Larry Day in memory of Frances Smyth
Accession Number
2000.102.1
Art Historical Context
Eugène Bléry'sWater Dock and Brambles a Sluice* (1843) invites viewers into a lush, untamed corner of the French countryside. This intimate etching captures the tangled beauty of water dock plants and thorny brambles framing a rustic sluice—a simple water gate that hints at rural life along a waterway. Bléry (1802–1887), a masterful French printmaker, was renowned for his meticulous depictions of nature, blending Romantic reverence for the wild with precise observation, bridging the gap toward later realist traditions. Rendered as a proof impression, this work showcases the artistry of etchin...
About the Artist
Eugène Bléry
Eugène Bléry (1805–1887) was a French engraver and etcher whose refined printmaking brought him considerable recognition among connoisseurs of the graphic arts during the nineteenth century. He trained in Paris and developed a particular affinity for landscape subjects rendered through the demanding medium of etching, where his technical precision and sensitivity to natural light set his work apar...