La Soirée des Thuileries
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Image: 13 9/16 × 9 9/16 in. (34.5 × 24.3 cm) Plate: 14 3/16 × 10 1/4 in. (36 × 26 cm) Sheet: 17 5/16 × 12 7/16 in. (44 × 31.6 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, Transferred from the Library, 1923
Accession Number
23.60.25
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This elegant engraving, titled *La Soirée des Tuileries*, captures a lively evening gathering at the Tuileries Palace in Paris, a favored setting for aristocratic leisure in the late 18th century. Created in 1774 by engraver Jean-Baptiste-Blaise Simonet after a design by painter Pierre-Antoine Baudouin, the print reflects the refined social world just before the French Revolution. Baudouin, known for his delicate genre scenes in the Rococo tradition, specialized in intimate depictions of fashionable life, and this work likely portrays elegantly dressed figures enjoying conversation, music, and flirtation in the palace gardens. As an engraving, the medium played a vital role in disseminating art beyond elite circles. Prints like this one allowed wider audiences to enjoy and collect images of paintings that might otherwise remain hidden in private collections. The careful line work and tonal shading demonstrate the technical skill required to translate Baudouin’s colorful composition into black-and-white form, preserving both its charm and narrative detail. Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the Rogers Fund in 1923, the print offers today’s viewers a window into the cultural sophistication of pre-revolutionary France. Its dimensions and fine execution highlight the high regard in which such reproductive prints were held during the Enlightenment.
About the Artist
Jean-Baptiste-Blaise Simonet|Pierre Antoine Baudouin (French|French) · 1742 |1703 –1842 |1770
French, Paris 1742–after 1813|French, Paris 1703–1770 Paris