Pont-au-change, Paris

Charles Meryon

1854 · Etching and drypoint on laid paper; fifth state of twelve · Drawings and Prints

This etching is among the most expansive views of Meryon’s Paris prints and contains more narrative detail than the majority of the works in the series. A drowning man in the foreground reaches out toward a boat whose occupants, distracted, gesture toward a balloon inscribed "Esperanza" (Hope, in Spanish) that hovers in the sky above. Pedestrians on the bridge also wave at the balloon as a funeral cortege passes by. Meryon composed a separate plate of verse to accompany this etching. It begins, "O divine hope! light balloon!" but concludes pessimistically, describing hope as a "false mirage."

Artist

Charles Meryon

Date

1854

Medium

Etching and drypoint on laid paper; fifth state of twelve

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

H.O. Havemeyer Collection, Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer Bequest, 1929