Copperplate Engraving, from Encyclopédie
1762/77
Medium
Etching, with engraving, 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
148184
Art Historical Context
Step into the Enlightenment with this exquisite *Copperplate Engraving* the groundbreaking *Encyclopédie*, by A. J. Defehrt between 176 and 1777. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago Prints and Drawings Department, this etching with engraving on cream laid paper (measuring 32 × 20.8 cm for the image alone) captures the era's passion for knowledge-sharing. The *Encyclopédie*, by Denis Diderot Jean le Rond d'Alembert, was a monumental 18th-century project compiling arts, sciences, and trades, with over 2,500 detailed plates like this one illustrating tools, techniques, and innovations. Defehr...
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...