The Vampire (Le stryge)

Charles Meryon’s mid-nineteenth-century views of Paris carry a double poignancy. Not only do they document medieval neighborhoods which would very soon be razed and transformed beyond recognition by city planner Baron Haussmann, but they are also imbued with the personal vision of the artist, who was beset by mental instability and delusions for much of his life.

This iconic etching depicts the gargoyle that leans on a parapet of the north tower of Notre-Dame in Paris. The sculpture was designed and installed by Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc as part of his campaign to restore many of France’s Gothic monuments. Meryon has endowed it with an all-too-human expression which might be interpreted as vigilance, wariness, menace, or disgust at too-swift social change—and as such, this brooding etching can be considered a form of self-portrait.