Auguste Renoir "Le Fleuve Scamandre" Etching on Wove Paper

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Auguste Renoir "Le Fleuve Scamandre" Etching on Wove Paper

About the Item

Le fleuve Scamandre, Original etching and soft-ground etching, circa 1900. A superb impression on wove paper with warm plate tone of the second state. The Scamander, a river in the Troad, figuring as a divinity in the Iliad and a source of mythological legends, is a title given to two etchings by Renoir representing the same subject. The first is a sketch for the second, with only one variant: in the sketch the woman holds out both arms, her figure forming a cross as she offers herself to the delighted river god. In the second etching...(as shown) only her left arm is held out and the composition is identical with that of the painted sketch which was still in Renoir's studio at Cagnes when he died in 1919. This painted sketch was the preliminary design for a large decorative panel which was never executed. Renoir had previously made some studies in red and black chalk for this same subject. This painted sketch was entitled The Rhone and the Saône and served as the cartoon for a tapestry. This theme figured in the sculpture of gardens and public squares in the 17th century, notably on the pedestal of the statue of Louis XIV in Lyons, of which only the figures of the Rhone and the Saône by the Coustous now remain. This second plate of The River Scamander is usually described as an etching. Actually Renoir began his plate as a soft-ground etching, laying in the main lines of his subject in this technique, in which he felt more at home.A date for this etching can be assigned to about 1900- 1910. This date seems likely enough, but it can hardly be much later than that, for by 1912, crippled with the attacks of arthritis which had begun in 1899 and had grown steadily worse, Renoir was no longer able to hold a brush in his twisted fingers; it had to be strapped to his wrist. In this way, by a heroic effort, he was able to go on painting, but to handle the etching needle was out of the question. This remains one of Reniors last and most most famous etchings.

Dimensions:
Height: 19 in (48.26 cm)
Period:
Early 20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
Circa 1900
Condition:
Excellent Condition. Plate size 8 1/2" high x 7" wide.
Seller Location:
Woodbury, CT
Reference Number:
1stDibs: 1208098959257