This etching, possibly of historic importance and in very good condition definitely is showing Brussels, its Town Hall ("Hôtel de Ville" at the Groote Markt) dominating in the centre clearly visible under a 45* angle and a large wood supported construction site the obvious subject of this great composition in the best French tradition.
Although I searched I have not been able to find any photographs of a fitting similar construction site in Brussels around this date (1900-1915).
The artist shows construction work of a viaduct in a direction parallel with the front the Town Hall. It could very well show the building of Viaduct Rue Gray in the Rue Couronne (Kroonstraat), a double traverse of both the road and (in a second smaller and lower bridge) the railway from and towards central station. As seen by the artist from approximately the Zwemkunststraat (quartier Elsene).
I invite readers and passers-by and all who know better to identify the signature, and monogram RV (Vande......) (Thank you reader Mich for solving the signature: R. Vandesande)
This etching, a great diagonal composition, is with many more fine graphic works available for swapping and trading to further my collection of German women printmakers in a friendly way.
Rene Vandesande (Doornik 1889 - 1946 Anderecht) was a Belgian painter and graphic artist).
Rene Vandesande (Doornik 1889 - 1946 Anderecht) was a Belgian painter and graphic artist).
There's a fair chance that this is by René van de Sande, a Belgian (Brussels) artist born in 1889 (died in 1946).
ReplyDeleteThank you very much Mich, I checked and he is indeed the artist.
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