L'Inconnu
Medium
Etching and drypoint; third state of three
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 3/4 × 14 13/16 in. (22.3 × 37.7 cm) Plate: 7 1/4 × 12 1/2 in. (18.4 × 31.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Mrs. Leonard E. Opdycke, 1928
Accession Number
28.64.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1862, *L’Inconnu* (“The Unknown”) is a delicate etching and drypoint by Félix Bracquemond, printed with the assistance of Alfred Cadart and Auguste Delâtre. The print’s modest sheet size invites close looking, revealing a quiet scene populated by ducks and turtles. Bracquemond’s sure handling of line captures both the rippling water and the creatures’ textured shells and feathers, demonstrating the expressive range possible in intaglio techniques. This work belongs to the mid-nineteenth-century etching revival in France, when artists sought to reclaim printmaking as a creative rath...
About the Artist
Félix Bracquemond|Alfred Cadart|Auguste Delâtre · 1833–1914
French, Paris 1833–1914 Sèvres