DOI issue:
Quarterly notes - Vol. xii, No. 1. February, 1925
DOI article:Jennings, Herbert H.: Adolphe Appian
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51531#0135
ADOLPHE APPIAN
By HERBERT H. JENNINGS
'Sg^O those who find pleasure in the etchings of
Appian and take a constant delight in studying
pla his work, it is surprising that there seem to be
so few, at any rate in this country, who
appreciate his deep insight into the charms of natural
scenery and his power of communicating to others his
vivid impressions. Both by temperament and training
he was fitted to take an eminent place among the
masters of the art of etching, and he still stands almost
without a rival in the quality of poetic feeling with which
his plates are charged.
Jacques Barthelemy Appian, to give him his baptismal
name, was born at Lyon on August 28th, 1818, and
died there on April 29th, 1898. No explanation
is as yet forthcoming of his adoption of the name of
Adolphe. In an interesting article which appeared
recently in Notre Carnet, a periodical published in
Lyon, Monsieur Charles Gruyer, who married the grand-
daughter of Appian, and who as “ heritier de ses
oeuvres," has in preparation a work on the artist, tells
us that the records of the family give evidence that they
were related to the Appiani, Italian painters of note.
This racial affinity probably accounted for some of the
interest which Appian felt in his native town, where1 the
silk industry had been founded many years earlier by
95
By HERBERT H. JENNINGS
'Sg^O those who find pleasure in the etchings of
Appian and take a constant delight in studying
pla his work, it is surprising that there seem to be
so few, at any rate in this country, who
appreciate his deep insight into the charms of natural
scenery and his power of communicating to others his
vivid impressions. Both by temperament and training
he was fitted to take an eminent place among the
masters of the art of etching, and he still stands almost
without a rival in the quality of poetic feeling with which
his plates are charged.
Jacques Barthelemy Appian, to give him his baptismal
name, was born at Lyon on August 28th, 1818, and
died there on April 29th, 1898. No explanation
is as yet forthcoming of his adoption of the name of
Adolphe. In an interesting article which appeared
recently in Notre Carnet, a periodical published in
Lyon, Monsieur Charles Gruyer, who married the grand-
daughter of Appian, and who as “ heritier de ses
oeuvres," has in preparation a work on the artist, tells
us that the records of the family give evidence that they
were related to the Appiani, Italian painters of note.
This racial affinity probably accounted for some of the
interest which Appian felt in his native town, where1 the
silk industry had been founded many years earlier by
95