Seated Woman Playing a Guitar
1651 to 1700
Medium
etching
Dimensions
sheet: 47.6 × 26.1 cm (18 3/4 × 10 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mrs. W. Murray Crane
Accession Number
1955.4.3
Art Historical Context
This elegant etching, *Seated Woman Playing a Guitar*, captures a moment of quiet musical intimacy from the late seventeenth century. Created by Louis Crépy after an original composition by Antoine Watteau, the print translates the graceful figure of a woman absorbed in her instrument into a widely accessible format. The seated subject, rendered with delicate lines, embodies the refined domestic scenes popular in French art of the period. As an etching, the work highlights the medium’s importance in disseminating artistic ideas beyond elite circles. Etchings like this one allowed Watteau’s el...