The Engraver Joseph Tourny
Medium
Etching on cream Japanese paper (from cancelled plate)
Dimensions
Image/plate: 23 × 14.4 cm (9 1/16 × 5 11/16 in.); Sheet: 32.3 × 24.9 cm (12 3/4 × 9 13/16 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
102195
Art Historical Context
In 1857, a young Edgar Degas, then just 23, created *The Engraver Joseph Tourny*, one of his earliest forays into printmaking. This intimate etching portrays Joseph Tourny, a skilled French engraver, capturing him at work with focused intensity. Produced during Degas's student years in Paris, where he trained under classical masters like Ingres, the piece reflects his budding fascination with precision and realism before he became synonymous with Impressionism and his iconic ballet scenes. Executed as an etching on luxurious cream Japanese paper, the work showcases Degas's technical prowess i...
About the Artist
Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas · 1834–1917
Hilaire Germain Edgar Degas, born on July 19, 1834, in Paris to a prosperous banking family, was the eldest of five children. His mother, Célestine Musson, a Creole from New Orleans whose father Germain Musson had roots in Haiti, died when Degas was thirteen, leaving his father Augustin and unmarried uncles to guide him. Educated at the elite Lycée Louis-le-Grand, where he earned a baccalauréat in...