Le Cocu battu et content, from "Contes et nouvelles en vers par Jean de La Fontaine. A Paris, de l'imprimerie de P. Didot, l'an III de la République, 1795"
Medium
Etching and engraving; first state of three (Cohen)
Dimensions
Sheet: 13 7/16 × 9 7/8 in. (34.2 × 25.1 cm) Plate: 12 5/8 × 9 5/8 in. (32 × 24.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1933
Accession Number
33.104.6
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Le Cocu battu et content**, a delightful etching and engraving from 1795, illustrates one of Jean de La Fontaine's cheeky *Contes et nouvelles en*—witty, verse tales blending satire, humor, and subtle moral lessons. This first-state proof, part of a luxurious Paris edition by Pierre Didot l'ainé during the French Republic's Year III, captures a playful domestic scene with men, women candlesticks, and of dressing, evoking bawdy spirit of La Fontaine's "The Cuckold Be and Content." Designed by Rococo master Jean Honoré Fragonard and likely engraved by Jean-Louis Delignon, it reflects the era's...
About the Artist
Jean de La Fontaine|Jean Honoré Fragonard|Jean-Louis Delignon|Pierre Didot l'ainé (French|French|French) · 1621 |1750 | –1695 |1780 |
French, Château-Thierry 1621–1695 Paris|active ca. 1750 (?)–1780|Paris