Les Nouvellistes

Art Historical Context

**Les Nouvellistes *Gabriel de Saint-Aubin 1752* Etching (early state); sheet: 4 1/4 x 6 in. (10.8 x 15.2 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection 1939 Step into the bustling social whirl of mid-18th-century Paris with Gabriel de Saint-Aubin'sLes Nouvellistes* (The Gossipers), a charming etching capturing two elegantly dressed figures—a man and a woman— in animated conversation amid architectural columns. Created in 1752, this intimate early-state print showcases Saint-Aubin's keen eye for everyday Parisian life, blending wit and observation in the Rococo tradition of lighthearted genre scenes. Saint-Aubin, a prolific French etcher and draughtsman (1724–1780), excelled at these small-scale vignettes that poked gentle fun at society's chatterers and fashionables. The etching technique, prized for its fluid lines and tonal subtlety, allowed him to render delicate details like flowing garments and expressive gestures with remarkable precision. As an "early state," this impression preserves the artwork's fresh, unadorned vitality before any later refinements. Housed in the Met's Drawings and Prints department, *Les Nouvellistes* offers a window into Enlightenment-era France, where public spaces buzzed with news and intrigue. It's a delightful reminder of how art can freeze fleeting moments of human connection, inviting us to eavesdrop on history's whispers. (198 words)

About the Artist

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin · 1724–1780

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780) was one of the most vivid and irrepressible graphic artists of eighteenth-century France, a tireless draughtsman whose sketchbooks and prints constitute an extraordinary visual chronicle of Parisian life during the Ancien Régime. Born into a family with strong connections to the decorative arts — his father was an embroiderer to the king — Saint-Aubin received fo...