Card-Maker, from Encyclopédie
1762/77
Medium
Engraving on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 32.5 × 20.8 cm (12 13/16 × 8 1/4 in.); Plate: 35.5 × 22.5 cm (14 × 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 38.7 × 25.5 cm (15 1/4 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
148224
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Benoît-Louis Prévost depicts the workshop of a card-maker, capturing the intricate tools and processes involved in producing playing cards during the mid-18th century. Created between 1762 and 1777 as part of Denis Diderot’s monumental Encyclopédie, the print belongs to a vast series of technical illustrations that documented hundreds of trades and crafts. Prévost, a skilled engraver, translated detailed drawings into precise line work that allowed readers to understand mechanical arts often overlooked by scholars of the time. The Encyclopédie project embodied Enlightenment ...