L’École (The School)
Medium
etching and aquatint printed in brown on laid paper
Dimensions
image: 23.5 × 19.6 cm (9 1/4 × 7 11/16 in.) plate: 26.8 × 20.9 cm (10 9/16 × 8 1/4 in.) sheet: 34.8 × 27.7 cm (13 11/16 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund
Accession Number
2018.91.17
Art Historical Context
This delicate etching and aquatint, titled *L’École (The School)*, was created around 1766 by printmaker François-Philippe Charpentier after a design by the celebrated French artist François Boucher. Published by the noted dealer Pierre-François Basan, the print captures the refined elegance of mid-eighteenth-century French art. Rendered in warm brown tones on laid paper, the work showcases the subtle tonal gradations made possible by aquatint, a technique then gaining popularity for its ability to suggest the softness of drawings or paintings. Boucher’s lighthearted genre scenes were widely ...