The Organ Rehearsal

A l’Orgue (original French title)

Etching on simili-japon paper.

Reference: BnF-IFF, mentioned as missing from the Bibliothèques Nationale’s collection.

Published by "Société Française des Amis des Arts" (with two monograms attesting to this, in the lower right image edge and in the upper right image corner).

Both artist’s names etched faintly below the image, left and right.

The platemark is undistinguishable, which suggests that this etching was conserved at some point (we indicate the image size instead). There is a hole punched in the lower left image corner, likely indicating that this impression is an overrun, that was printed but not part of the edition; an extra proof. Exceedingly scarce. We have yet to find any other impression of this etching anywhere!

NOTE: This etching, of exquisite finesse, is a reproduction of Henry Lerolle’s magnum opus, a 12-foot painting which has been in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1887, only two years after it was painted (see it HERE)! As described on The Met’s own website: " Set in the choir loft of the church of Saint-François-Xavier in Paris, (the painting) features members of Lerolle’s intimate circle, including his wife (bare-headed) and her sisters, in fashionable matching hats; his brother-in-law, composer Ernest Chausson, plays the organ. The painter himself gazes outward at left. Shown at the Salon of 1885, this picture triumphed the next year in New York, in the first major Impressionism exhibition in America." It hangs today in the musical instruments gallery number 684.

The society that published this print had as a stated aim is to promote the development of the fine arts by purchasing works from annual exhibitions, which it distributed among all subscribing members. Membership was 100 francs per year (a substantial amount, likely worth over $10,000 today). In addition, members each year received an album of unpublished original prints reproducing works exhibited at the Salons. Print runs were limited to the number of members. This etching is one such publication.