Etching on tick paper by Jean Donnay – Titled: Old gunsmith, 1931

Limited edition fine art print by Jean Donnay; Titled: Vieil armurier dated 1931 (Old gunsmith)

Etching on thick paper signed in pencil by the artist in the lower right, as well as below a note “very rare” and the date 1931. The work is titled lower left. Jean Donnay’s editions are rarely above 50 copies.

Dimensions: Paper sheet: 31.5 x 28 cm – 13 x 11 in – Image: 27.5 x 25 cm – 10.75 x 10 in.

The work is not framed.

Artwork is not available anymore! Sold – Thank you.

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Jean DONNAY (1897 – 1992)

Jean Donnay was born on March 31, 1897 in Cheratte in the province of Liège, and died on July 31, 1992 in Herstal. He is a Belgian painter and engraver.

Jean François was born into a family of gunsmiths. In 1907, at the age of 10, he painted a portrait of the royal family on the occasion of the coronation of King Albert I. His teacher sent the drawing and Jean received the congratulations from the court.

In 1910, he began his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liège, where he was a pupil of Auguste Donnay, Adrien de Witte, François Maréchal, Émile Berchmans and Évariste Carpentier. In 1920 he obtained the Donnay Painting Prize: thanks to the grant, he spent a stay in Paris. In 1921, Donnay was enrolled in the engraving course opened at the Academy of Fine Arts in Liège by François Maréchal.

In 1931, Jean Donnay was appointed professor of engraving at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Liège. Winner of the Liège province engraving prize in 1946, Jean Donnay was seriously ill between 1950 and 1953 and no longer worked. In 1961, he was appointed director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of Liège, where Georges Comhaire succeeded him as professor at the engraving workshop. In 1973, Jean Donnay was a member of the Fine Arts class of the Royal Academy of Belgium.

He exhibited mainly in Belgium and Paris, but also worldwide (Monza, New-York, Berlin, Prague, Moscow, etc.). Throughout his work, we find representations of the decorations of his native village, Cheratte, the Herve plateau, the Meuse valley and the Liège region.