Copperplate Engraving, from Encyclopédie
1762/77
Medium
Etching, with engraving and stipple, on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 32 × 20.8 cm (12 5/8 × 8 1/4 in.); Plate: 35.5 × 22.5 cm (14 × 8 7/8 in.); Sheet: 39 × 25.5 cm (15 3/8 × 10 1/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
148181
Art Historical Context
This exquisite copperplate engraving by A. J. Defehrt, created between 1762 and 1777, hails from the groundbreaking *Encyclopédie*, edited by Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert. Published in France during the Enlightenment, this 28-volume compendium (with 11 volumes of plates) sought to catalog all human knowledge, challenging traditional authority and promoting reason, science, and industry. Defehrt's print exemplifies the collaborative effort of artists, scientists, and artisans who produced over 2,500 intricate illustrations to visually explain everything from mechanics to anatomy. ...
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...