Add to Collection

Add this item to an existing or new collection.
Harvard Art Museums
Incorrect Username, Email, or Password
Print of figures levitating above landscape with body of water

The bottom portion of this print is a hazy landscape. Buildings with steeples and crosses line the horizon. On the right is a broad, still body of water. A long line of figures stretches from the center foreground toward the left, their backs turned to the viewer. Two owls, one perching and the other in flight, occupy the bottom right corner. Red-brown chalk lines run along the horizon and shade the right foreground. In the sky above the scene, a crowd of many figures is suspended amongst rays of light.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2012.90
People
Félix Hilaire Buhot, French (Valognes (Manche), France 1847 - 1898 Paris)
Title
The Spirits of Dead Cities
Other Titles
Original Language Title: Les esprits des villes mortes
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1886
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/340018

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Etching and drypoint with roulette and aquatint, retouched in red chalk on cream wove paper
Technique
Etching, drypoint and aquatint
Dimensions
image: 28.7 × 39 cm (11 5/16 × 15 3/8 in.)
sheet: 31.4 × 44.6 cm (12 3/8 × 17 9/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower edge, graphite: L'Esprits 2e Etat très rare avant l'aquatinte[?]..[illegible] FB; lower right, graphite: [illegible]
  • collector's mark: verso, lower left corner and lower right corner, round red ink stamp: DB [likely Daniel Bell]
  • inscription: verso, lower right, graphite: 2438[?]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Daniel Bell, Cambridge, MA, gift of his estate; to Harvard Art Museums, 2012.

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

State
ii/vi
Standard Reference Number
Bourcard 160

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift from the Collection of Professor and Mrs. Daniel Bell
Accession Year
2012
Object Number
2012.90
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Exhibition History

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu