ULTIMATE Early French Masterworks from the Hyman Collection Louis De Clercq Follow Djebaïl, Soubassements Phéniciens 1859 Albumen print from a waxed paper negative, mounted, a plate from Voyage en Orient, Vol I: Villes, Monuments et Vues Pittoresques de Syrie (J. Blondeau et Antonin, 1860). Image/sheet: 20.5 x 27.8 cm (8 1/8 x 10 7/8 in.) Mount: 45 x 58.3 cm (17 3/4 x 22 7/8 in.) Letterpress title and De Clercq's monogram on the mount. This work is from the first volume of De Clercq’s six-volume Voyage en Orient . Of the 50 originally published sets, fewer than 12 intact copies are extant, of which six are held in institutional collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Musée d’Orsay and The Louvre.
Condition Report Sign up or Log in Provenance Daniel Blau, Munich, 2003 Private Collection, 2013 The Hyman Collection, London Literature L. De Clercq, Voyage en Orient, Vol I: Villes, Monuments et Vues Pittoresques de Syrie , Paris: J. Blondeau et Antonin, 1860 R. Mayer, Louis De Clercq Voyage en Orient , Stuttgart: Edition Cantz, 1989, pl. 24 J. Quasha & Quillan Company, eds., The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs , New York: Quillan, 1991, pl. 41, p.132 Catalogue Essay In 1859, at the age of 23, Louis De Clercq joined historian Emmanuel-Guillaume Rey on his expedition to Syria and Asia Minor. They visited Crusade sites and places of archeological and historical significance such as Djebaïl, just north of Beirut, where the present photograph was taken. Djebaïl, known as Byblos in ancient times, Gibelet to the Crusaders and Jibayl to its inhabitants today, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world. In Djebaïl, Soubassements Pheniciens , offered here, De Clercq captures the massive Phoenician foundations of the city at close range, the wall filling almost the entire frame, drawing our attention to the layers of civilisations before his eyes. ‘Among the early French photographers in Egypt, De Clercq’s vision is strikingly modern,’ write André Jammes and Eugenia Parry Janis in The Art of French Calotype . ‘Shapes and silhouettes in startling variations and combinations characterized his best work’ (p.164). As Maxime Du Camp Félix Teynard (lot 3) and John Beasley Greene (lot 4) had done before him on their respective expeditions, De Clercq used the paper negative process for his photographic survey. His choice of paper negatives over the collodion glass plate negative, which was the favoured process by the late 1850s, can be attributed to their adaptability to the challenging conditions of photographing on the field. On his return to Paris in 1860, De Clercq published 222 views and several panoramas in six volumes titled Voyage en Orient ; the present lot was originally in the first volume Villes, Monuments et Vues Pittoresques de Syrie . Read More
ULTIMATE Early French Masterworks from the Hyman Collection Louis De Clercq Follow Djebaïl, Soubassements Phéniciens 1859 Albumen print from a waxed paper negative, mounted, a plate from Voyage en Orient, Vol I: Villes, Monuments et Vues Pittoresques de Syrie (J. Blondeau et Antonin, 1860). Image/sheet: 20.5 x 27.8 cm (8 1/8 x 10 7/8 in.) Mount: 45 x 58.3 cm (17 3/4 x 22 7/8 in.) Letterpress title and De Clercq's monogram on the mount. This work is from the first volume of De Clercq’s six-volume Voyage en Orient . Of the 50 originally published sets, fewer than 12 intact copies are extant, of which six are held in institutional collections, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Musée d’Orsay and The Louvre.
Condition Report Sign up or Log in Provenance Daniel Blau, Munich, 2003 Private Collection, 2013 The Hyman Collection, London Literature L. De Clercq, Voyage en Orient, Vol I: Villes, Monuments et Vues Pittoresques de Syrie , Paris: J. Blondeau et Antonin, 1860 R. Mayer, Louis De Clercq Voyage en Orient , Stuttgart: Edition Cantz, 1989, pl. 24 J. Quasha & Quillan Company, eds., The Quillan Collection of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Photographs , New York: Quillan, 1991, pl. 41, p.132 Catalogue Essay In 1859, at the age of 23, Louis De Clercq joined historian Emmanuel-Guillaume Rey on his expedition to Syria and Asia Minor. They visited Crusade sites and places of archeological and historical significance such as Djebaïl, just north of Beirut, where the present photograph was taken. Djebaïl, known as Byblos in ancient times, Gibelet to the Crusaders and Jibayl to its inhabitants today, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world. In Djebaïl, Soubassements Pheniciens , offered here, De Clercq captures the massive Phoenician foundations of the city at close range, the wall filling almost the entire frame, drawing our attention to the layers of civilisations before his eyes. ‘Among the early French photographers in Egypt, De Clercq’s vision is strikingly modern,’ write André Jammes and Eugenia Parry Janis in The Art of French Calotype . ‘Shapes and silhouettes in startling variations and combinations characterized his best work’ (p.164). As Maxime Du Camp Félix Teynard (lot 3) and John Beasley Greene (lot 4) had done before him on their respective expeditions, De Clercq used the paper negative process for his photographic survey. His choice of paper negatives over the collodion glass plate negative, which was the favoured process by the late 1850s, can be attributed to their adaptability to the challenging conditions of photographing on the field. On his return to Paris in 1860, De Clercq published 222 views and several panoramas in six volumes titled Voyage en Orient ; the present lot was originally in the first volume Villes, Monuments et Vues Pittoresques de Syrie . Read More
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.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
