Authors and aquafortistes: the Goncourt brothers and the nineteenth-century etching revival

Thesis

This thesis examines the etchings made by Jules and Edmond de Goncourt alongside their writing, placing the Goncourt brothers’ engagement with etching within the historical context of the nineteenth-century etching revival. The brothers made ninety-three etchings from 1859-70, a period that coincides with their major co-written works, including L’Art du XVIIIe siècle, Gavarni, l’homme et l’œuvre and their six novels. The 1860s also marked the height of the etching revival, a movement that forged close connections between artists and writers in order to promote etching as a printmaking medium. Within the revival, the Goncourt brothers provide a unique example of authors who were also etchers, or aquafortistes, and I argue that the brothers’ firsthand experience with etching had an important impact on their writing. Whether as a form of connoisseurship and research for their art-historical work, as a source of thematic and stylistic inspiration for their novels, or as a means for Edmond to mourn and commemorate Jules after his tragic early death, I identify a variety of intersections between writing and etching in the brothers’ œuvre. As a whole, the aims of this thesis are threefold. First, it seeks to reclaim the importance of etching as a source of artistic inspiration for the Goncourt brothers’ writing, building on and extending prior readings of the relationship between literature and art in the Goncourts’ work which have primarily focused on painting. Secondly, it demonstrates how the brothers’ firsthand experience as aquafortistes during the nineteenth-century revival offers a different perspective on etching from the conventional ideas promoted by other writers and critics during the revival. Finally, it aims to expand discussions of the links between literature and art in nineteenth-century France, moving beyond the sphere of painting to reveal important connections between printmaking and writing.

Authors: Skokowski, R

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English and French
• Keywords: prints; French literature; 19th century; etching
• Subjects: Literature; Etching, French