L'Amour et les Graces Arrivant de Londres; Le Suprême Bon-Ton No. 24
Medium
Etching, hand-colored
Dimensions
sheet (inlaid): 8 1/8 x 10 11/16 in. (20.7 x 27.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1971
Accession Number
1971.564.120
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1815, amid the swirl of post-Napoleonic Europe, French caricaturists Aaron Martinet and Adrien Pierre Godefroy, Le Jeune, captured the era's fashion frenzy in *L'Amour et les Graces Arrivant de Londres; Le Suprême Bon-Ton No. 24*. This hand-colored etching, part of a satirical series mocking high society's "supreme bon-ton" (ultimate chic), depicts Love (perhaps Cupid) and the Graces arriving from London, poking fun at the influx of English styles into Paris after years of wartime rivalry. The vibrant, meticulously applied colors highlight exaggerated gowns, hats, and accessories on women a...