The painter Melotte in front of his easel - Emile-Frédéric Nicolle

Etching by Emile-Frédéric Nicolle (1830-1894).
Emile-Frédéric Nicolle was the grandfather of the famous cubist painter and engraver Jacques Villon, the sculptor Raymond Duchamp-Villon, the inventor of conceptual art Marcel and the painter Suzanne Duchamp. The Louvre's Chalcographie collection has several engraved plates by this painter-engraver, who produced his first etching in his twenty-fourth year. Nicolle was an attentive witness to the changes in his native city of Rouen. Indeed, as a member of the Société des Amis des Arts de Rouen, he drew and engraved the main buildings of Rouen before they disappeared during the redevelopment of the city. He participated in the 1878 Universal Exhibition and several times in the Salons des Artistes Français in Paris with his etchings. In 1883 he was awarded the Palmes Académiques.
His engraved work is divided into three parts. His views of the monuments and streets of Rouen constitute a lyrical testimony of the old city. His landscapes, especially those of Saint-Valéry-en-Caux where he spent his summers, are concerned with the daily and picturesque activities of this port. Finally, his characters or familiar animals, taken on the spot, reveal the mastery of his line.
Modern proof printed from the original plate of the Chalcographie du Louvre.
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