Featured Vintage etching Notre Dame—-who was ‘Georges Devignne’?

I’m grateful for your understanding!

 

@D. Bartlett , Did you see these works online? https://collections.geneve.ch/mah/auteur/devienne

The signature is somewhat different but there are unusual features (like the initial D in his surname) that seem to match the signature in yours.

I did find mention of Georges Devienne in this 1910 article digitized in Google Books.
https://books.google.com/books?id=h...CBMQAw#v=onepage&q="Georges DEVIENNE"&f=false

Unfortunately, no biographical information. At the end of the article there is a reproduction of the illustration that is described in such detail. However, that doesn't show a signature.

 

Thank you so very much, @Figtree3 . I feel as though I am assembling some mysterious puzzle, the image of which is only partly revealed, but that you have provided some much-needed, revelatory pieces.

I am particularly intrigued by the passage in that Google Books article describing Mssr. Devienne as “hold[ing] the record for color engraving.” And yet so little can be found on him today on our modern internet!

Again, many thanks.

 

Full name Georges-Constant Devienne, born Calais 1881. Died in the First World War. Few references to be found via the Gallica database.

The numbering and the ink inscription make me suspect this was a posthumous impression.


https://www.memorialgenweb.org/memorial3/html/fr/complementter.php?id=4514963

 

My feelings exactly, architrave. Thus, why I queried earlier whether they were doing “signed/numbered” etchings like this circa 1900. Other curious aspects that raised the old skepticism flag in me were the backing paper and sloppy placement of the “Jordan Marsh Company” label.

And then there is the discoloration over the plate and surrounding paper.

Indeed, I suspect this is a reissue as well—-although still perhaps a very old one. In the end, though, it was the charm of the piece, not its strict authenticity or investment value, that appealed to me.

Thanks for your post.

 

You never know how an items value will change in the future, take miniature portraits for example, expensive at one point, then you couldn’t give them away, and now very popular and fetch a great price.

 

Indeed. Why, even now, and despite all of its flaws and curious aspects, someone is out there whom would fall completely head-over-heels for my little gem, and would be willing to part with comparatively vast sums just to possess it.