Petite Moulin (Small Mill)

 

Henri Cassiers

  1858 - 1944 (biography)

1925  

color aquatint and etching 

17 9/16 x 13 5/8" platemark; 16-9/16 x 12-9/16" image size 

pencil, lower right 

number 49 of an edition ca. 150 

numbered lower left; printed in blue, upper left margin: Publié par l'Estampe Moderne, 14 rue de Richelieau Paris 1925 

 

cream rives paper 

published 

l'Estampe Moderne, Paris (blindstmamp in lower left) 

22241 

$500.00 

Henri Cassiers displays his mastery of the etching process in this portrayal of a Dutch port, employing aquatint to painterly effect in the luminous, dramatic sky, which takes up two thirds of the plate. The structures on the horizon are wrought in brief, Impressionist, sketch-like forms, dwarfed by stormy weather; however the water is a tender sky blue, suggesting that the clouds are still approaching, giving the city a window of calm to prepare for an onslaught of rain.

Cassiers was noted for depicting Flemish landscapes with windmills, villages, and maritime views, often with large, active skies. Other subjects he was noted for were Dutch costumes and styles of dress, particularly of Zeeland and Katwijk.