Spaightwood Galleries

Last updated: 3/13/07

Home / Gallery Tour 1 / Fauves / Gallery Tour 2 / Artists

Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958): Miserere II

Gauguin / Camoin / Derain / Matisse / Rouault / Vlaminck

Rouault 1: Miserere / Rouault 2: Miserere 2 / Rouault 3: Miserere 3 / Rouault 4: Miserere 4 / Rouault 5 / Rouault Specials

For an introduction to Rouault in general and the Miserere in particular, please click here.

"The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters": Goya’s Caprichos etchings (1799), Durer's Ship of Fools woodcuts (1494), David Deuchar’s etchings (1786) after Hans Holbein’s Dance of Death, John Martin’s Paradise Lost mezzotints (1823-25), and Georges Rouault’s Miserere mixed-media intaglios (1922-1928)
Plate 18: Le condamné s'en allé / The condemned man was led away (C&R. 71d) Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1922. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. Signed and dated 1922 bottom left. There are no pencil-signed proofs. Following a group of four plates devoted to those who think they have won their war against poverty and can live life happily, we confront some of society's losers, here a man whose posture reminds us of the Toujours flagellé / Always beaten Christ from plate 3: we see a condemned man (condemned for what?) being led away. Image size: 500x345mm. Price: $5500.
Plate 19: Son avocat, en phrases creuses, clame sa totale inconscience / His lawyer, in hollow phrases, proclaims his total indiffference (C&R. 72d). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1922. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. Signed and dated 1922 bottom left. There are no pencil-signed proofs. Our impression is a rich dark impression in very good condition with full margins; slight soliing in the margins. The lawyer, whose "hollow phrases" proclaim him to be one simply going through the motions with a total lack of concern for his client's fate, is as unsympathetic as his haught posture proclaims him to be. Illustrated Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1971. Image size: 535x408mm. Price: $5000.
Plate 20: Sous un Jésus en croix oublié là / beneath a forgotten crucifix (C&R. 73e). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1926. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. Signed and dated 1926 bottom left and signed bottom right as well. There are no pencil-signed proofs. Our impression is a rich dark impression in very good condition with fullI margins; slight soliing in the margins. Illustrated Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1971. The title refers to the complete indifference of the court to the crucified Christ hanging from the courtroom wall on his cross. Image size: 535x408mm. Price: $6000.
Plate 21: "Il a été maltraité et oprimé et iln'a pas ouvert la bouche / He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he never opened his mouth" [Isaiah 53:7] (C&R. 74c). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1922. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. Signed and dated 1923 bottom center. There are no pencil-signed proofs. Our impression is a rich dark impression in very good condition with fullI margins; slight soliing in the margins. Illustrated Musée National d'Art Moderne, 1971. We are reminded again of the correspondance between the convicted criminal being led away in plate 18 and the Jesus who suffered the same fate during his Passion. Dated 1923 and signed both bottom left and right. Image size: 578x408mm. Price: $7500.
Plate 22: En tant d'ordres diverse, le beau métier de ensemencer une terre hostile / In so many different domains, the noble task of sowing in hostile land (C&R. 75c). Original aquatint, engraving, burnisher, roulette, 1926. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. Signed and dated 1926 bottom center and signed bottom right. There are no pencil-signed proofs. A superb richly-inked impression, just back from conservation. Again echoing the previous image, the sower (a character who figures in several of Jesus' parables about what needs to be done to serve the world) goes forth to plant the seeds that will grow to feed the hungry. Image size: 591x431mm. Price: $7500.
Plate 23: Rue des Solitaires / Street of the lonely (C&R. 76e) Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1922. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. A superb, dark, rich impression in very good condition with full margins just back from conservation. Signed and dated 1922 bottom center and again at right. There are no pencil-signed proofs. . Image size: 363x505mm. Price: SOLD.
Plate 24: Hiver lèpre de la terre / Winter, hated and feared of the earth (C & R 87c). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette, 1922. 450 impressions signed and dated 1926 bottom left (there are no pencil-signed proofs) for the Miserere, one of the greatest print cycles of all time. In winter, there is no sowing; here Winter, personified as a soldier, takes the place of the lepers, universally feared and hated in the gospels, except by Jesus who heals them. Image size: 515x368mm. Price: $6000.
Plate 26: Au pays de la soif et de la peur / In the land of thirst and terror (C&R. 79c). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1923. 450 impressions for the Miserere, Rouault's masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. A superb, dark, rich impression in very good condition with full margins just back from conservation. Signed and dated 1923 bottom center and bottom left right. There are no pencil-signed proofs. . Image size: 500x345mm. Price: $5000.
Plate 28: "Celui qui croit en moi, fût-il mort, vivra" / "He that beleveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live" [John 11: 25] (C & R 81e). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette, 1923. 450 impressions signed and dated 1923 bottom center and bottom left (there are no pencil-signed proofs) for the Miserere, one of the greatest print cycles of all time. The skulls of the deceased, evicted from their graves to make room for new occupants, await their resurrection in a bonehouse. Image size: 575x435mm. Price: $4500.
Plate 29: Chantez Matines, le jour renaît / Sing Matins, a new day is born (C & R 82d). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette, 1922. 450 impressions signed and dated 1922 bottom left (there are no pencil-signed proofs) for the Miserere, one of the greatest print cycles of all time. A confirmation of the preceding print: Morning prayers are due because the world will one day see a new sunrise and a new day. Image size: 585x489mm. Price: $5500.
Plate 30: "Nous . . . c'est en sa mort que nous avons été baptisés" / ["Know ye not, that] so many of us [as were batised into Jesus Christ] were baptised into his death?" [John 13: 34] (C & R 83e). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette. 450 impressions signed bottom left (the date of this print is not visible and there are no pencil-signed proofs) for the Miserere, one of the greatest print cycles of all time. Here we are shown St John the Baptist baptising Jesus while the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove hovers above, confirming the words of St John in plate 28. Image size: 545x420mm. Price: $7500.
Plate 32: Seigneur, c'est vous, je vous reconnais / Lord, it is Thou, I know Thee (C & R 85d). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette, 1927. 450 impressions signed and dated 1926 bottom right (there are no pencil-signed proofs) for the Miserere, one of the greatest print cycles of all time. A disciple, probably St Thomas, reaches out to touch Jesus. Although Jesus had warned Mary Magdalen, who had come seeking him on Easter morning, not to touch him for he had not yet ascended unto the Father, Thomas, who was absent and did not see the Risen Jesus when he appeared to the other disciples who were hiding in a locked room and who refused to believe that they had seen Jesus, was told to puts his fingers in Jesus' wounds if that is what it would take to make him believe. Image size: 570x450mm. Price: $7500.

Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.

To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to sptwd@verizon.net. We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.

For directions and visiting information, please call. We are, of course, always available over the web and by telephone (see above for contact information). Click the following for links to past shows and artists. For a visual tour of the gallery, please click here. For information about Andy Weiner and Sonja Hansard-Weiner, please click here. For a list of special offers currently available, see Specials.

Visiting hours: Saturday and Sunday noon to 6 pm and by arrangement. Pleasae call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Prints and Drawings: Prints by Pierre Bonnard, Georges Braque, Charles Camoin, Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Henri Edmond Cross, Edgar Degas, Sonia Delaunay, Maurice Denis, André Derain, Susanne Duchamp, Raoul Dufy, Jean-Louis Forain, Pauk Gauguin, Marie Laurencin, Edouard Manet, Pierre Matisse, Joan Miro, Berthé Morisot, Pablo Picasso, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Geeorges Rouault, Ker Xavier Roussel, Paul Signac, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Suzanne Valadon, Maurice de Vlaminck, James A. McNeill Whistler, and others.

Drawings by Albert Besnard, Andre Barbier, Henri Edmond Cross, Jean-Louis Forain, Eva Gonzales, Marie Laurencin, Maximilien Luce, and Georges Rouault.

Hand-colored prints by Mary Cassatt, Marc Chagall, Sonja Delaunay, Joan Miró, Henri Matisse, and Pablo Picasso.

For a review of the show that concludes, "Art exhibits in Madison rarely get this good," click review.