Study for an Engraving of "Songs in the Opera of Flora"
ca. 1737
Medium
Pen and blue ink with black chalk
Dimensions
2 13/16 x 3 15/16 in. (7.2 x 10 cm.)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Rosenbach, 1944
Accession Number
44.54.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
Hubert François Gravelot, a leading French rococo artist and engraver active in London during the 1730s, created this delicate preparatory drawing around 1737. Titled *Study for an Engraving of "Songs in the Opera of Flora"*, it served as a design model for an engraving likely intended for printed sheet music or a libretto from the popular opera *Flora*. The intimate scale—measuring just under 4 inches wide—highlights its function as a swift sketch, capturing performers in dynamic poses amid the whimsical world of 18th-century theater. Rendered in pen and blue ink with black chalk, the work e...
About the Artist
Hubert François Gravelot
Hubert-François Bourguignon, known as Gravelot (1699–1773), was a leading French Rococo engraver, illustrator, and designer whose elegant draftsmanship bridged the artistic worlds of France and England. Born in Paris to a tailor, he adopted his pseudonym from a godfather and grew up alongside his elder brother, the geographer Jean-Baptiste Bourguignon d'Anville. After neglecting studies at the Col...