Le Péché Partagé, plate 1 from "The Decameron"
Medium
Etching; proof before letter
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 9/16 × 7 3/8 in. (21.7 × 18.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.500.589(2)
Art Historical Context
This etching, titled *Le Péché Partagé* (The Shared Sin), serves as the first plate in an illustrated edition of Giovanni Boccaccio’s *The Decameron*. Created by the French printmaker Léopold Flameng in 1873, the work captures a moment from Boccaccio’s 14th-century collection of one hundred tales, framed by ten young Florentines who retreat to the countryside to escape the Black Death. Flameng’s interpretation brings fresh visual life to these enduring stories of wit, love, and human folly for 19th-century audiences. Executed as an etching—a technique prized for its ability to render delicate...
About the Artist
Giovanni Boccaccio|Léopold Flameng (Italian|French) · 1313 |1831 –1375 |1911
Italian, Paris 1313–1375 Certaldo, Tuscany|French (born Belgium), Brussels 1831–1911 Paris