Aquarelles

Abstract

Sigismond Himely (1801-1872), a Swiss by birth, was part of a group of expert French engravers who brought the art of aquatint to its apogee; his copies of daguerreotypes are of a surprising exactitude. The painter Delacroix, originally from Boulogne, made a specialty of maritime subjects; nine of the prints in this volume are of seashore subjects. The technique of reproduction utilized by Himely was color aquatint; this process required one plate for each color, sometimes six or eight plates and as many impressions of the press. The result approaches chromolithography; indeed, the copy of this work in the Bibliotheque Nationale is catalogued as chromolithography. The credit line “fac-similé par Himely” is found on the margin of several of the prints. While this volume has no printed title page, it does have a proper binding and gilt stamped cover (‘Delacroix / Aquarelles’) which indicates to me that it was a published edition, thouogh surely very small. (Charles Wood, cat 167, # 70)