help with french art - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

t walgamuth · #1 08-06-2006, 10:38 PM

i bought an old french print, an engraving at a flea market this morning. it is an idyllic scene on a perhaps medieval time frame of a river scene with french looking buildings on both sides and a very nice stone arched bridge in the near background.

in the river is a herd of cattle, men fishing in small boats, four or five largish barges with surrey type tops and row seating like a sightseeing boat, and men working on some type of fairly large boat with a flat but curved from end to end bottom, perpindicular sides, and a sloping square prow.

on the bottom on the left it says "tableau du temps"

on the bottom right is says grave' par chavane".

anybody know what it says?

i am very curious as to where it is. i think maybe the right thing says "engraved by chavane" who i believe was Francious Chavane, who i searched and found as being an artist on the net, but all the stuff i found was, again, in french.

tom w

Carleton Hughes · #2 08-06-2006, 11:13 PM

Are you certain it was not Chavannes?

t walgamuth · #3 08-06-2006, 11:16 PM

it has only one 'n'. but it could be an archaic form of chavanne i suppose.

tom w

Carleton Hughes · #4 08-06-2006, 11:46 PM

Well, too bad it's not Chavannes,beaucoup bucks there,19th cent,Symbolist artist.
Besides what you describe is not his ouvre.

I would like to see a pic if possible.

There were many mass marketed prints available from the 18thcent.onward.

Now with prints is it a woodblock,lithograph,seriograph or photogravure?these were all well established modes of reproduction.

Could it be pen and ink or monochrome gouache?impossible for me to tell without having seen it,nevertheless when I go to the shop Mon or Tues I will research the name in my Mayer's and Benizet's compendia of artists and auction results,usually pretty comprehensive if the guy is a "name".

t walgamuth · #5 08-07-2006, 09:08 AM

i doubt it is worth much. although the original work was probably done a long time ago i would think that this thing is only 50 years old or so. i will see about posting pics.

thanks for your interest in my little object.

tom w

Mistress · #6 08-07-2006, 09:38 AM

"Table of time" and engraved by Chavan

Since66 · #7 08-07-2006, 11:57 AM

"Tableau du temps" might better be (loosely) translated "a scene of that era".

t walgamuth · #8 08-07-2006, 06:16 PM

thank you both for your thoughts.

please find attached some of my old pictures and one of my youngest daughter mary driving my 84 500sec with me holding on at the scca autocross at grissom afb (decommissioned).

the pics include the river scene, an old photo colorized of the colosseum in rome, a pic of the colosseum in nimes france which is still in continuous use since roman times, an engraving print of a medieval scene (apparently signed) in i believe france and our autocross pic.

any thoughts and or observations will be greatly appreciated.

tom w

Carleton Hughes · #9 08-07-2006, 06:45 PM

Typical french genre print Ca,1850-1870,nice but not rare,if it weren't for the foxing and staining would make a good decorator piece for about $75-$100.

The pic of the Nimes colosseum looks for all the world like a panoramic pic from around the turn of the century,is it a photo?

t walgamuth · #10 08-07-2006, 06:54 PM

yes it is. it looks to be from around that time by the people in it and lack of cars and such.

the coloseum pic is pretty old too.

what do you make of the little night print of the medieval french village scene? i think it might be the most unique one i have.

tom w

Carleton Hughes · #11 08-07-2006, 07:04 PM

Well, panoramic photos are themselves quite collectable,and yours is architectural to boot,nice piece. If I had it in my shop I'd probably ask $150.00 for it.

The night scene looks like a chromolithograph,a popular mode of color reproduction in the 19th cent.

Take a close look at it,see if it is composed of a number of tiny dots,if not it's an early chromo.

TheDon · #12 08-07-2006, 09:31 PM

T.... you need some monoblock wheels for that sucker

t walgamuth · #13 08-07-2006, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDon

T.... you need some monoblock wheels for that sucker

right.

tom w

t walgamuth · #14 08-07-2006, 09:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Carleton Hughes

Well, panoramic photos are themselves quite collectable,and yours is architectural to boot,nice piece. If I had it in my shop I'd probably ask $150.00 for it.

The night scene looks like a chromolithograph,a popular mode of color reproduction in the 19th cent.

Take a close look at it,see if it is composed of a number of tiny dots,if not it's an early chromo.

it appears to be an engraving that has been colorized with water color. it is signed in blunt pencil it appears to be barr c. or darr c. the d is printed like a capital d but it has a long stem on the left like a lower case d. the arr is longhand and the c is capitalized. the entire signature is underlined.

nice to know the nimes photo has value. i just like the looks of it. i also have a box full of old glass slides about 3" square, mostly of architectural things. and a painted slide with four images on it of a little dutch boy (?) not sure.

tom w

Carleton Hughes · #15 08-07-2006, 09:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by t walgamuth

it appears to be an engraving that has been colorized with water color. it is signed in blunt pencil it appears to be barr c. or darr c. the d is printed like a capital d but it has a long stem on the left like a lower case d. the arr is longhand and the c is capitalized. the entire signature is underlined.

nice to know the nimes photo has value. i just like the looks of it. i also have a box full of old glass slides about 3" square, mostly of architectural things. and a painted slide with four images on it of a little dutch boy (?) not sure.

tom w

Then you may have an aquatint,much better than a chromo,it signed.