Card-Maker, from Encyclopédie

Art Historical Context

Step into the bustling workshops of 18th-century France with *Card-Maker, from Encyclopédie*, an etching by A. J. Defehrt created between 1762 and1777. This print is one of thousands of illustrations from Denis Diderot's groundbreaking *Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers*—the Enlightenment's ambitious compendium of human knowledge. Published in Paris amid intellectual fervor, it sought to document every trade and technique, making specialized skills accessible to all and challenging the secrecy of guilds. Defehrt's precise engraving on cream laid paper (40 × 26 cm) captures the card-maker at work, likely depicting the meticulous process of crafting playing cards or trade cards with tools like presses and cutting blocks. Etching, a technique involving acid to bite designs into metal plates, allowed for detailed, reproducible images that brought the era's artisanal world to life. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings Department, this piece exemplifies how visual aids fueled the Scientific Revolution, blending art with education. Today, it offers a vivid glimpse into pre-industrial labor, highlighting the Encyclopédie's cultural impact in promoting progress and reason. A testament to collaboration between artists, philosophers, and craftsmen, it's a must-see for understanding how knowledge once shaped society.

About the Artist

A. J. Defehrt · 1708–1779

A. J. Defehrt (1723–1779) was a French draftsman, painter, and engraver whose career is best defined by his substantial contributions to one of the most ambitious publishing projects of the European Enlightenment: the illustrated plates of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. This monumental project, which aimed t...