Night
Medium
Wood engraving on light gray China paper laid down on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 14.7 × 21.8 cm (5 13/16 × 8 5/8 in.); Chine: 18.3 × 25.8 cm (7 1/4 × 10 3/16 in.); Sheet: 23.8 × 33.5 cm (9 3/8 × 13 1/4 in.)
Classification
wood engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
49871
Art Historical Context
Jacques Adrien Lavieille's *Night* (1860) is a captivating wood engraving evokes the quiet mystery of darkness through intricate lines and subtle tones. Created on light gray paper— a thin, high-quality sheet prized for its ability to capture fine details—and laid down on ivory wove paper for preservation, this print measures a modest 14.7 × 21.8 cm at its image core. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department, it exemplifies the technical precision of 19th-century French engraving. Lavieille a prominent French illustrator and engraver active in the mid-1800s, mastere...