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Pierre Georges Jeanniot
, French, 1848-1934
Title
In the ChurchDatec.1915 - 1917
MediumEtching on paper
Dimensions
Image: 21.7 × 29 cm
Credit LinePresented, Tom and Hilda Hodson, 2025
Object numberNGI.2025.36
DescriptionThis print is from a series of ten etchings (Les Crimes Allemands) that illustrate the crimes committed by German troops against civilians in Belgium and Northern France during the opening months of World War I. Jeanniot brought out the full set of prints in 1917, presented in a portfolio accompanied by bibliographic references to the events depicted and a patriotic poem. The artist, who fought in the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 and was a prisoner of war, had a deeply felt hatred of German soldiers. Inspired by news reports of the time, the prints represent in graphic detail, violent and shocking acts perpetrated by German troops. They are skilfully etched and point to the influence of Goya’s infamous print series ‘The Disasters of War’. They must be viewed in context as polemical prints created by an artist deeply scarred and vengeful following his own experience of war. When first displayed in a Parisian print shop, they were removed by police. As a commercial enterprise, the project failed. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France holds one full set but it is unknown how many editions were printed originally.