Adolphe Appian

One of the most notable French landscape etchers of the nineteenth century, Adolphe Appian was amongst the most inspired pupils of the famous painter-etcher, Jean-Baptiste Corot. A true successor of the Barbizon ideal, Adolphe Appian assimilated to the full his master’s sense of the quality of light and he translated this to his own naturalistic style with greatest success in his etchings.

After studying in his native city of Lyon, Adolphe Appian had come to Paris in the 1830’s to study under Corot; yet it was not until about 1860 that Appian began his activities as a printmaker. Adolphe Appian’s etched works often display particular fascination with the strange and distinct atmosphere produced by impending rain, when the reflections in still water appear with lucid clarity.