L'Homme qui court après la Fortune et celui qui l'attend dans son lit
Medium
Etching; fifth state of five
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 11/16 × 12 7/8 in. (47.4 × 32.7 cm) Plate: 15 13/16 × 10 3/8 in. (40.1 × 26.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1963
Accession Number
63.625.16(4)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Visitors to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department will delight in *L'Homme qui court la Fortune et celui qui'attend dans son lit (1886), a witty etching that brings Jean de La Fontaine's17th-century fable to. The title translates to "The Who Runs After Fortune and the One Who Wait for It in His Bed poking fun at human folly: one man frantically chases elusive Fortune, while another lounges expectantly in bed, only for her to slip away. This moral tale, rich with irony, resonated in 19th-century France amid rapid social changes and the allure of wealth during the Belle...
About the Artist
Félix Bracquemond|Jean de La Fontaine|Gustave Moreau|Boussod, Valadon & Co.|Boussod, Valadon and Co. · 1833–1914
French, Paris 1833–1914 Sèvres