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Auguste Raffet, printmaker

Ouverture de la tranchée (Beginning the Trench), 1852

Description

Maker

  • Gihaut Frères, 1822, France, publisher
  • Auguste Bry, printer
  • Auguste Raffet, 1804-1860, French, designer

Title

Ouverture de la tranchée (Beginning the Trench)

Year

1852

Medium

lithograph on wove paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • lithograph

Supports

  • Light weight Oriental tissue paper laid down on heavy weight white wove paper (chine collé)

Dimensions

Plate: 20 x 37.6 cm (7 7/8 x 14 13/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Lettered: "Raffet 1852"; "Ouverture de la Tranchée. Attaque de gauche s'appuyant a l'Eglise St. Pancratzio. Première nuit du 4 au 5 Juin (Siège de Rome)"; and "Paris, Gihaut Frères éditeurs Boulevart des Italiens, 5. / Paris Imp. par Auguste Bry 114 r. du Bac."

Inscribed in graphite: "Rare trial proof before the number and before the title was altered as it appears in the published state"

Identification

State

trial proof

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Prints

Credit

Gift of the Fazzano Brothers

Object Number

84.198.768

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Pilgrims of Beauty

February 3 - July 8, 2012

Encouraged by the success of his prints illustrating the military campaigns of Napoleon, Auguste Raffet traveled to Italy to observe and depict a contemporary conflict: the battles in 1848 and 1849 around the short-lived Republic of Rome. Following a popular uprising, the French government sent forces to overthrow the Republic and restore the authority of the Pope. This print, one in a series of thirty-six, shows the French army digging a trench and preparing to lay siege outside the city walls. The presence of the cross and San Prancrazio gate gives the scene a recognizably Italian setting, making the event more vivid for Raffet’s French audience.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Ouverture de la tranchée (Beginning the Trench) with the accession number of 84.198.768. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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