Le petit pont

What Canaletto as an etcher was for Venice in the 18th century, Meryon became for Paris in the 19th century. Although he occasionally depicted places elsewhere, including some etchings after drawings he had made on his sea voyage to the South Pacific, the city of Paris became his chief subject and obsession. Although, as for Canaletto, topographical precision was not his main objective and his views are composed and perspectives altered, his views contain a high degree of detail and accuracy. What interested him more, however, was to capture the atmosphere and texture of the buildings, streets, and quays along the river, from the lofty towers and gargoyles of Notre-Dame and the bridges across the Seine to curious medieval towers and dingy alleys, such as the wonderfully named Rue des Mauvais Garçons. The earliest, finest impressions of Meryon's prints, such as the present one of 'Le Petit Pont', convey the play of daylight on the different surfaces of buildings and the river, even a sense of air, of smells and temperature: warm sunshine on the stone façades, cool shade under the arches - effects that few printmakers succeeded in depicting.
The Petit Pont, connecting the Left Bank with the Île de la Cité stands on the site of one of the oldest Seine crossings, going back to Roman times. Rebuilt numerous times over two millenia, the bridge depicted here was built in 1719. Eventually however, its three arches were considered too obstructive to river traffic and in 1853, only three years after Meryon created this etching, it was replaced by the singled-arched bridge which still stands today.