Silent Water
Medium
Lithograph in black on ivory chine
Dimensions
Image: 13.8 × 22.2 cm (5 7/16 × 8 3/4 in.); Sheet: 28.2 × 40.2 cm (11 1/8 × 15 7/8 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4812
Art Historical Context
Henri Fantin-Latour's *Silent Water* (3) is a delicate lithograph in black ink on ivory chine, a serene, evocative scene 13.8 × .2 cm. Created in the French artist's career—he was67 at the time—this exemplifies his mastery of lithography, a19th-century technique that artists to draw directly on stone with greasy crayon, producing rich tonal gradations akin to charcoal sketches. The ivory chine, a thin Chinese paper adhered to a stronger support, enhances the subtlety of the ink, giving the image a luminous, quality perfect for quiet contemplation. Fantin-Latour, a Realist associated with figu...
About the Artist
Henri Fantin-Latour · 1836–1904
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born on January 14, 1836, in Grenoble, France, to portrait painter Théodore Fantin-Latour, who gave him his earliest drawing lessons. The family relocated to Paris in 1841, where in 1850, at age 14, he enrolled in the École de Dessin, studying under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose innovative memory-based method of drawing from observation profoundly ...