Félix Hilaire Buhot, Landing in England (Un débarquement en Angleterre), 1879
In Rembrandt’s footsteps
Rembrandt was a great example to experimental printmakers like Buhot – not only for his artistic qualities, but above all because he printed his etchings himself. Buhot described the printing process in the following terms in a letter to the critic and collector Philippe Burty:
‘The Victor Hugo [etching] is not yet bitten. I am working on it right now and it seems to be working, but it is precisely this mysterious hour of the bite that I fear. If I had a picture of Rembrandt in my room I’d light him a candle.’
For the collector
Buhot responded to the strong demand from collectors for unique impressions, outside the standard edition. He printed on special paper, for instance, and changed his design or execution after each impression.
Many of his prints also incorporate remarques: sketches or scribbles in the margin of the etching, making the impressions unique and personal. The practice got so out of hand in Buhot’s work that he sometimes printed an entire extra set of images from a second plate around the main one.
Félix Hilaire Buhot, Westminster Palace, 1884
Félix Hilaire Buhot, Winter in Paris (L'hiver à Paris) or Snow in Paris (La neige à Paris), 1879
Further reading
- Gustave Bourcard, Félix Buhot. Catalogue Descriptif de son Œuvre Gravé, New York 1979
- André Fontaine, Félix Buhot. Peintre-graveur 1847-1898, Paris 1982
- Jean-Luc Dufresne, Valérie Sueur and Alison McQueen, Félix Buhot.
Peintre graveur entre Romantisme et Impressionnisme. 1847-1898,
Cherbourg 1998