Frédéric Martens
Pêche de la Baleine, Whale-Fishery

ArtistItalo-German, active France, 1806–1885
CultureFrench
Titles
  • Pêche de la Baleine, Whale-Fishery
Datec. 1834–1835
PlaceFrance
MediumAquatint, etching, and engraving on white wove paper
DimensionsPlate: 22 × 31 3/4 in. (55.9 × 80.6 cm)
Sheet: 25 1/2 × 33 1/2 in. (64.8 × 85.1 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by the Mary Beth Baird bequest, by exchange
Object numberB.2015.3
Current Location
Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens
Chillman Parlor
Exposé

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Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
DescriptionThis print is one of a pair that are mentioned in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851), which recounts the quest of captain Ahab of the whaling vessel Pequod to hunt down and kill the albino sperm whale Moby Dick, which in a previous voyage had destroyed his ship and severed his leg. Melville called the prints “by far the finest…presentations of whales and whaling scenes to be anywhere found.” This print depicts the hunt for a right whale.
Provenance[The Old Print Shop, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, left: Garneray pinx
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, middle: PÊCHE DE LA BALEINE. WHALE-FISHERY
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, right: Martens sculp
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, center bottom edge: Paris, publie par Rittner et Goupil, 9, Boulevard Montmartre
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, center right edge: Sauniée impr.
Recto: Publisher's Mark, below image, left bottom edge: RITTNER ET GOUPIL / EDITE [impression shows part of two additional letters, possibly "U" and "R"] / A. PARIS [blind stamp]

Frame Verso: Label in printed ink/graphite, center top edge: The OLD PRINT SHOP INC. / FINE PRINTS, ANTIQUE MAPS and ART BOOKS / established 1898 / 3426 [in graphite] / KENNETH M. NEWMAN HARRY S. NEWMAN / ROBERT K. NEWMAN / 150 LEXINGTON AVENUE AT 30TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10016-8108 / TEL 212.683.3950 FAX 212.779.8040 / info@oldprintshop.com www.oldprintshop.com / Buying, Selling, and Building American Collections of Prints, Maps and Fine Art Books / CORRECT FRAMING

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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