Portrait of Charles Meryon 1853

This is Félix Bracquemond’s etched portrait of Charles Meryon, printed on a sheet measuring about 12 by 9 inches. It offers an intimate glimpse into the artistic circles of 19th-century France. Bracquemond captures Meryon, the celebrated etcher of Parisian cityscapes, in a moment of contemplation. The gaze is direct, the posture relaxed, yet there's a palpable sense of the sitter's internal world. The print was made in a period marked by significant shifts in art institutions, with debates raging about the status of printmaking as fine art. To fully understand this image, we might turn to the writings of Baudelaire, who championed the idea of modernity and the artist as a flâneur, an observer of urban life. We can also explore the changing role of the artist in a rapidly industrializing society. It also asks us to consider the social role of portraiture: Who gets remembered, and why?