Scène dans un parc, le soir

Art Historical Context

**Scène dans un parc, le soir (Scene in a Park, in the Evening)** *Etching by Félix Bracquemond after Charles Desforges de Vassens, 1856* This enchanting etching captures a serene evening in a lush park, populated by men and women strolling amid tall trees. Created in 1856 by master printmaker Félix Bracquemond after a composition by Charles Desforges de Vassens, it exemplifies the mid-19th-century revival of etching in France. Bracquemond, a pivotal figure in the etching renaissance and friend to Édouard Manet, elevated the medium with his precise, atmospheric lines, bridging Realism and the emerging Impressionist interest in everyday outdoor scenes. The intimate plate size (9 13/16 × 7 3/16 in.) allowed for detailed reproductions that brought urban leisure to wider audiences. Etching's significance here lies in its technical virtuosity: acid etched into a metal plate creates rich, tonal depths that evoke the fading light of dusk, with intricate foliage and figures rendered in subtle cross-hatching. Produced during Paris's Haussmann-era transformations, when parks like the Bois de Boulogne became social hubs, the print reflects the era's fascination with nature as an escape from city life. Donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1922 by David Keppel, it remains a gem in the Drawings and Prints collection, inviting visitors to ponder the quiet elegance of 19th-century Parisian evenings.

About the Artist

Félix Bracquemond|Charles Desforges de Vassens · 1833–1914

French, Paris 1833–1914 Sèvres