The Cook
1775
Medium
Etching; first state of two
Dimensions
Plate: 9 7/16 × 6 9/16 in. (24 × 16.7 cm) Sheet: 14 15/16 × 10 7/16 in. (38 × 26.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Catherine G. Curran and Janice and Roger Oresman Gifts, 2004
Accession Number
2004.237
Tags
About this artwork
Giovanni David's "The Cook" (1775) exemplifies the eighteenth-century fascination with depicting everyday life and humble occupations with dignity and technical virtuosity. Created as an etching and aquatint on laid paper, this print demonstrates David's mastery of tonal gradation and atmospheric effects. David (1743–1790) was an Italian artist active during a period when printmaking reached new heights of sophistication, with artists exploring the aquatint technique's capacity to create painter...
About the Artist
Giovanni David · 1749–1790
Giovanni David (1743–1790) was a Genoese painter and etcher whose brief career, shaped by distinguished patronage and wide-ranging travel, produced a body of work remarkable for its experimental verve. Born in Genoa, he came under the protection of Count Giacomo Durazzo, a cultivated Genoese nobleman and diplomat who became the defining figure of his artistic life. Durazzo sponsored David's traini...