Study for an Engraving of "Songs in the Opera of Flora"
18th century
Medium
Pen and blue and brown ink with black chalk
Dimensions
2 5/16 x 3 5/16 in. (5.9 x 8.4 cm.)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Fletcher Fund, 1944
Accession Number
44.54.24
Tags
Art Historical Context
Hubert François Gravelot, leading French rococo artist and engraver active in 18th-century Paris and London, created this delicate *Study for an Engraving of " in the Opera of Flora as a preparatory sketch. Dating to the 1700s, it captures the playful elegance of rococo design, with its intricate lines suggesting female figures—likely performers or muses—arranged around chairs in a theatrical scene. The opera *Flora*, inspired by the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, evoked pastoral fantasies popular in Enlightenment-era entertainments, blending music, dance, and mythology for aristocratic ...
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...