La Toilette de Venus (The Toilette of Venus)
Medium
Color aquatint from four plates, crayon-manner, and etching on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 44.6 × 39.1 cm (17 9/16 × 15 7/16 in.); Sheet: 59.4 × 45.9 cm (23 7/16 × 18 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
50174
Art Historical Context
In the opulent world of late 18th-century French, Jean-François Janinet *La Toilette de* (1783) captures the goddess of love in an intimate moment of grooming, surrounded by the luxuries of classical mythology. This enchanting print, housed in the Art Institute of's Prints and Drawings department reflects the Rococo era's lingering fascination with sensual, decorative themes inspired by antiquity, just before the French Revolution shifted tastes toward Neoclassicism. Janinet, a master printmaker, revolutionized color printing with this work—a color aquatint from four plates, combined with cra...