Dame cachetant une lettre (Woman Sealing a Letter)
Medium
etching and engraving on laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 38.8 × 28.6 cm (15 1/4 × 11 1/4 in.) plate: 28.5 × 23.8 cm (11 1/4 × 9 3/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Widener Collection
Accession Number
1942.9.2151
Art Historical Context
Step into the intimate world of 18th French domesticity with *Dame cachetant une (Woman Sealing a Letter)*, a delicate etching and engraving by Etienne Fessard after Jean Siméon Chardin created in 1738. This captures a poised woman in mid-action, sealing a letter with focused elegance—a quiet moment of everyday life elevated to poetic beauty. Chardin, a master of Rococo realism, specialized in such unassuming scenes, infusing them with subtle light, rich textures, and emotional depth that celebrated the ordinary over the grandiose. Fessard's masterful reproduction on laid paper preserves Char...