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Miserere, Plate 1 (Have Mercy on Me, O God, According to Thy Great Mercy)

  • Charles Rouault
  • Etching
  • Original aquatint, drypoint, burnisher, roulette.
  • Image: 23 x 16 3/4 in. | Mat: 24 x 30 in. | Framed: 34 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.
  • From the edition of 450 impressions
  • Dated and signed in the plate, lower left (there are no pencil-signed proofs)
  • Spaightwood Galleries, Wisconsin; Kimble Collection, Utah, 2003
  • Yes

French artist Georges Rouault chose this work to introduce Miserere (Have Mercy), his masterpiece series of 58 etchings and one of the most important series of the twentieth century.

Between 1916 and 1927, Rouault undertook a series of engravings on copper plates which in 1948 would be published under the title Miserere.

Inspired by the horrors of WWI, the work, initially entitled: Miserere et Guerre, went beyond the themes of the war and became, from its universality, a great panorama on the human condition.

Miserere (Latin for “have mercy”) is Rouault’s masterpiece and one of the most important series of the twentieth century. Rouault chose this work to introduce the series (plate one).

Miserere is a profound, expressive meditation on suffering and the promise of redemption. Created in 1922–27 (though not published until 1948), it remains one of the 20th century’s seminal print portfolios and Rouault’s most ambitious graphic project. Across his cycle of 58 monumental prints, Rouault powerfully conveys his deep empathy for humanity in response to the destruction and misery he witnessed during World War I (1914–1918). Masterfully combining many intaglio (incised into metal) printmaking methods, he pushed the medium’s technical boundaries to achieve expressive tonalities and painterly effects that evoke the thick contour lines and luminous qualities of Medieval stained glass.  Rouault.org

Reference: Chapon and Rouault 54d

Loc: G.C. pp39b

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