La Foire de Village
Medium
Color aquatint, etching, and engraving; proof
Dimensions
Image: 12 3/16 × 9 5/16 in. (31 × 23.6 cm) Sheet: 15 3/16 × 11 1/4 in. (38.6 × 28.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1964
Accession Number
64.550.3
Art Historical Context
**La Foire de (The Village Fair)**, created between 1788 and 1794 by Charles Melchior Descis and Nicolas Antoine Ta, captures the bustling energy of a rural French fair. This proof print depicts everyday revelry—vendors, entertainers, and villagers mingling amid stalls and games—offering a vivid snapshot of pre-Revolutionary life in the French countryside. Descourtis, a mastermaker, collaborated with Taunay, known for his neoclassical landscapes, to evoke the charm and chaos of communal gatherings that were central to 18th-century social culture. The artwork's medium—a color aquatint combined...