Dance on the Village Square
ca. 1633
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 11 1/16 x 13 13/16 in. (28.1 x 35.1 cm) Plate: 10 5/16 x 13 1/4 in. (26.2 x 33.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926
Accession Number
26.49.45
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Dance on the Village Square**, an etching created around 1633 by French artists Abraham Bosse and Jean I Leblond, captures the joyful energy of rural French life during the early Baroque period. Bosse, a master etcher renowned for his intricate depictions of everyday scenes, collaborated with Leblond, a skilled engraver and publisher, to produce this lively print. Measuring about 11 by 14 inches on the sheet, it shows men and women dancing in a village square, accompanied by musicians playing instruments—a snapshot of communal festivity amid the countryside. Etching, the medium here, was re...
About the Artist
Abraham Bosse|Jean I Leblond · 1602–1676
Abraham Bosse (1604–1676) was a French printmaker and theorist whose approximately 1,600 etchings provide an unparalleled visual record of 17th-century French life. Born to Huguenot parents in Tours, he trained in Paris under Melchior Tavernier and became a devoted follower of Jacques Callot's technical innovations. Bosse's meticulous etchings depicted subjects ranging from daily life and fashion ...