La Vague, Marseille, ou le Mistral, Marseille (The Wave or the Mistral, Marseille)

Henri-Charles Guérard

ca. 1893 · Etching and drypoint, printed in green ink · Drawings and Prints

Guérard, known for his experimentation as a printmaker, here employed a greenish ink for the churning sea in this view from Marseille. His title "The Wave" is certainly a nod to the celebrated work of Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai, whom he greatly admired. The alternate title conveys that the turbulent waters in this scene are due to the mistral, a bitter northwesterly wind that blows in the south of France between the winter and spring seasons. The island visible in the distance is likely the Ile d’If, a former fortress made famous as a prison in the nineteenth century by Alexandre Dumas père in his popular novel "The Count of Monte-Cristo."

Artist

Henri-Charles Guérard

Date

ca. 1893

Medium

Etching and drypoint, printed in green ink

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1982