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Welcome to Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
120 Main Street, Upton MA 01568-6193
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Georges Rouault (French, 1871-1958): Miserere II
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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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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 plaster crucified Christ hanging from the courtroom wall on his unrepaired cross. Image size: 535x408mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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. Flora and Kang suggest Psalm 107: 33-38 as relevant: "He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there he lets the hungry live, and they establish a town to live in; they sow fields, and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield."Image size: 591x431mm. Price: SOLD.
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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. Another superb richly-inked impression, just back from conservation: notice that the space between the sower's right shoulder and his extended hand is darker in this impression than in the one above.. 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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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.
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Plate 24: Hiver lèpre de la terre / Winter, hated and feared of the earth (C & R 77f). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette, 1922. 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. 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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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Plate 25: Jean-François ne chante alleluia / Jean-François never sings alleluia (C&R 78f). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, and roulette, 1923. 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. Rouault here presents the typical Frenchman as existing in a state of spiritual emptiness and lacking spiritual joy. Flora and Kang cite Isaiah 54: 1: "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord." Image size: 588x424mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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 impressions. Image size: 500x345mm. Price: SOLD.
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Plate 27: ""Sunt lacrymae rerum / Life is full of tears" (C&R 80e). Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette, 1926. 450 impressions initialed in the plate and dated 1926 bottom right (there are no pencil-signed proofs) for the Miserere, one of the greatest print cycles of all time. The title comes from Book I of The Aeneid and suggests the grief that comes with life. Flora and Kang cite Revelations 21:4: "And God shall wipe away alltears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Image size: 580x417mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
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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: SOLD.
Flora & Kang suggest the relevance of Psalm 30:4-5: "Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning."
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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: Please call or email for current pricing information.
Flora and Kang cite Romans 6:2-4: "How are we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
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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: SOLD.
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Plate 33: Et Véronique au tendre lin passé encore sur le chemin / And Veronica, with her tender linen, still walks the road . . . " (C & R 86d). Original sugar aquatint, burnisher, roulette, and drypoint, 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. Our impression is a trial proof–perhaps unique–from one of the plates that Rouault reworked between 1928 and 1932 and then cancelled. See C&R I: 320-23. Signed "G. Rouault 1930" in the plate lower left. Very rare! Image size: 430x420mm. Price: Please call or email for current pricing information.
St. Veronica is not mentioned in the Gospels, but plays a large role in depictions of the Crucifixion as a woman who offered him an act of kindness as he carried the cross by wiping his face with her kerchief. Flora & Kang suggest the relevance here of Luke 23: 26-31: "As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us”; and to the hills, “Cover us.” For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?' "
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Spaightwood Galleries, Inc.
To purchase, call us at 1-800-809-3343 (1-508-529-2511 in Upton MA & vicinity) or send an email to spaightwood@gmail.com.
We accept AmericanExpress, DiscoverCard, MasterCard, and Visa.
We also accept wire transfers and paypal.
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.
Go back to the top of this page.
Visiting hours: Saturday 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday noon to 6:00 pm and other times by arrangement.
Please call to confirm your visit. Browsers and guests are welcome.
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