Sheltering Strangers
ca.1737–42
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet (Each): 11 5/8 × 9 7/16 in. (29.6 × 24 cm) Plate: 9 3/8 × 6 7/8 in. (23.8 × 17.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Stephen A. Geiger Gift, 2020
Accession Number
2020.157.3
Art Historical Context
**Sheltering Strangers** a captivating etching by François Hutin a French artist active in the early 18th century, around 1737–42. Hutin, known for his work as both a painter and engraver at the Versailles court, exemplifies the Rococo style's elegant whimsy during Louis XV's reign. This, measuring about 11⅝ × 9⁷⁄₁₆ inches on its sheet, captures a moment of hospitality—likely an allegorical or biblical scene—rendered with the fine lines characteristic of etching, a technique Hutin mastered to produce intricate, tonal effects on copper plates. Etching's appeal in the 1700s lay in its ability t...
About the Artist
François Hutin
Bénézit gives year of birth as ca. 1685 and date of death as August 1758; Thieme-Becker mentions that François Hutin died in August 1758 at the age of 72. Father of Charles, sculptor, painter and delineator (1715-1776), Jean-Baptiste, painter and etcher (born ca. 1725), and Pierre, sculptor and delineator (died 1763).