Antoine de Chézy
ca. 1772–76
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 9/16 × 6 9/16 in. (21.7 × 16.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Stephen A. Geiger Gift, 2014
Accession Number
2014.603
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant etching, titled *Antoine de Ché* by French artist Louis Jean Despre (1743–1804), the profile of its scholarly subject in a classical pose, dating to around 1772–76. Created during the late Enlightenment era in France, when intellectual portraits celebrated thinkers and scientists, the work exemplifies Desprez's skill as a draughtsman and printmaker. Measuring just 8 9/16 × 6 9/16 inches, its intimate scale invites close viewing, revealing the precision of etched lines on a metal plate, a technique that allowed artists like Desprez to achieve delicate shading and expressive contour...
About the Artist
Louis Jean Desprez · 1743–1804
Louis Jean Desprez (1743–1804), born in Auxerre to a wig-maker father and widowed mother, began his artistic training as a twelve-year-old apprentice under engraver Charles-Nicolas Cochin in Paris in 1755. He later studied at the Académie royale d'architecture, sponsored by architect Pierre Desmaisons, and became a pupil of Charles de Wailly from 1768 to 1776, embracing neoclassicism inspired by I...