Study: Vienna, Old houses, Ghent (21.726) 56.1×61.3cm, black chalk on tracing paper, inscription b.c.: ‘FB. Ghent 1906’. Prov: Brangwyn gift, 1914. Exh: Vienna, 1914 (32). Vienna, 1922 (123). Ill: Newbolt, 1908 (plate 35); reproduced Zwanzig Graphische Arbeiten, (6). Lit and Ill: Herrmann, 1992 (108)
Finished etching above
1906
Copper, 55.5×60.8cm
Edition: 1st (trial) state: 5 impressions. 2nd (published) state: More contrast and highlighting. 150 proofs published. The Whitechapel Art Gallery catalogue wrongly stated that the plate was destroyed.
Owners: Aberdeen (ABDAG004928) presented by T L Paton, 1926. Amsterdam (RP-P-1927-857, 2nd state). Bewdley (1933-31/21(K)) Brangwyn gift, 1933. Birmingham (1922POO137) provenance H Watson Smith, 1922. Brighton (FA208089) (AP167) Brangwyn gift, 1935 and (FA207763). Bruges (0.1101, 2nd state) signed in full in pencil b.r. and inscribed in pencil b.l. ‘Old houses-Ghent’, Brangwyn gift. Brussels (S.II 113320 and S.III 65691). Cambridge (P.326-1943) inscribed by Brangwyn b.l.: ‘This had previously been fielded off al[sic] sides’, Brangwyn gift, 1943. Cardiff (NMW A12848). Chicago (RX20769/1383). London BM (1913,0522.6) signed in pencil. Melbourne (717/2) signed b.r., presented by J H Connell, 1914. Moscow. San Francisco (1951.1) gift of Mrs Charlotte Mack. Scarborough (SCAAG:411.1, 2nd state and 411.2). Stockholm (NMG 107/1907), purchased from art dealer J Browson, Galerie d’Art Décoratif, Paris. Tokyo (DEP.G 1985-25). Vienna (1914/366).
Possibly Barcelona, New York Public Library, Rome Gallery of Modern Art
Related works: The plate was cut to make Ghent, temporary wooden bridge (E920). Ghent, unloading bricks (E798) deals with the subject of the building of Sint-Michiels bridge.
Lit: Newbolt, 1908 (68). Marcel Henri, ‘Frank Brangwyn. An Appreciation’, in Newbolt, 1908, p18. FAS, 1912 (64). Figaro Le, ‘Frank Brangwyn’, Verhaeren Emile, 26 January 1912. Architectural Review, ‘The Architectural Etchings of Frank Brangwyn ARA’, Vol XXXV, No 207, February 1914, p27. Shaw Sparrow, 1919, p143-144. Architectural Etchings of Frank Brangwyn RA, Westminster: The Architectural Press, 1922, p3. Gaunt, 1926 (64). Marechal, 1987, p204. Times The, Norman Geraldine, ‘The Welsh Connection’, 2 May 1981, p11. Horner, 2023, pE65
Ill: Pica, 1907, p173. Pica Vittorio, L’Arte Mondiale alla VII Espozizione di Venezia, Bergamo: Istituto Italiano D’Arti Grafiche, 1907, p226. Newbolt, 1908 (plate 36). Vienna catalogue, 1909, p44. FAS, 1912 (64). Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Marx Roger, ‘L’oeuvre Gravé de Frank Brangwyn’, Vol VII, 1 January 1912, p37. Architectural Review, ‘The Architectural Etchings of Frank Brangwyn ARA’, Vol XXXV, No 207, February 1914, p27. Shaw Sparrow, 1915, facing p124. Architectural Etchings of Frank Brangwyn RA, Westminster: The Architectural Press, 1922. Levetus Amelia S, Frank Brangwyn der Radierer, Vienna: Rikola Verlag, 1924. Gaunt, 1926 (64, 2nd state). Marechal, 1987, p204. Campbell Fine Art, British & European Prints 18th – 20th Centuries, 2001 (177). Horner, 2023, pE65
Exh: London, 1907 (21) 15 guineas. Venice, 1907. Melbourne, 1909 (3) £22 10s, 1st state. Vienna, 1909. Rome, 1910. Chicago, 1912 (9). Dresden-Breslau, 1912 (16) 325 M. Manchester, 1912 (37) 15 guineas. Paris, 1912. Melbourne, 1913, 20 guineas. Paris, 1915 (25). Tokyo, 1918. Vienna, 1922 (16). Queen’s Gate, 1924 (72). Whitechapel Art Gallery, 1925 (19). Brighton, 1935 (47). Moscow, 1967 (9). London, 1981 (41) £290. Melle, 1988 (23). London, 1984 (89) £280. Scarborough, 1994 (14).
The etching was based on a drawing and depicts in reverse the Corn Exchange, the former guildhouse ‘De Windas’, and the back of the post office, with the clocktower on the Grislei in Ghent. People foreground and workmen connected with the Sint-Michiels bridge (not shown); temporary wooden bridge to left.
Verhaeren describes the houses ‘whose pierced fronts seem like cakes of gilded honey’, but it’s not just an architectural study, the inclusion of workmen in the foreground probably indicating the influence of the Belgian social realist painter Charles de Groux (1825-1870).
Print Prices Current – sold for £4 15s 30/5/22; £5 5s 2/5/33
FAS 1912 15 guineas