The Fireworks
January 21, 1782
Medium
Etching and engraving in black on cream wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 46 × 73.5 cm (18 1/8 × 28 15/16 in.); Plate: 52.5 × 78.6 cm (20 11/16 × 31 in.); Sheet: 54.3 × 80.2 cm (21 7/16 × 31 5/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
202393
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Theatrical spectacles often marked the momentous occasions of royal weddings and births. These ephemeral events incorporated dance, music, poetry, and even pyrotechnics, aristocratic antics captured in the ephemeral medium of print. Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger created an expansive etching of the fireworks celebrating the birth of the dauphin Louis-Joseph, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. This iconic image emphasizes the power of the festival machine, a veritable temple of fireworks, by ...