Etchings of Paris: The Mortuary
1854
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
1854
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Etchings of Paris: The Mortuary is a 1854 by Charles Meryon, a Impressionism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
Meryon shows a quiet Paris morgue in 1854. Two rows of stone slabs hold covered bodies. The room feels cold and empty except for a single light on a desk. He loved etching Paris’s older spots before they changed. Meryon worked on plates for weeks, testing ink and paper to get the shadows just right. His prints often look dreamlike, even though they’re real places. This etching feels lonely. Look up Charles Meryon (French, 1821–1868).
