Fille Éconduite
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Image: 11 7/16 × 8 9/16 in. (29 × 21.7 cm) Plate: 12 3/8 × 9 1/16 in. (31.5 × 23 cm) Sheet: 13 3/8 × 9 13/16 in. (34 × 25 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1954
Accession Number
54.533.22
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
"Fille Éconduite," created in 1775, is a fine example of late eighteenth-century French printmaking. The etching credits Pierre-Antoine Baudouin, a painter celebrated for intimate genre scenes, as the designer and Nicolas de Launay as the engraver. The title, roughly translating to “The Rejected Girl” or “The Dismissed Maiden,” hints at the sentimental narratives popular in French art of the period. Etching allowed artists to reproduce delicate lines and subtle tonal effects with remarkable precision, making works like this accessible to a broader audience beyond the original painting or drawing. Measuring just over eleven inches in height, the print’s modest scale suited it for private collections and albums, where viewers could appreciate its refined detail up close. Today housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the sheet entered the collection through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 1954. It offers modern visitors a window into the collaborative world of French print culture, where painters and engravers worked together to circulate fashionable subjects across Europe.
About the Artist
Nicolas de Launay|Pierre Antoine Baudouin (French|French|French) · 1732 |1739 |1739 –1806 |1792 |1792
French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris|French, Paris, 1739–1792|French, Paris, 1739–1792