The Little Schoolmistress
mid to late 18th century
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
Sheet (trimmed): 10 5/8 × 7 15/16 in. (27 × 20.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953
Accession Number
53.600.1109
Tags
Art Historical Context
*The Little Schoolmistress*, an etching and engraving from the mid- to late 18th, captures a charming domestic scene likely inspired by the Rococo elegance of François Boucher, with A. J. Defehrt as the skilled printmaker. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Drawings and Prints department (quired via the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund in 3), this trimmed sheet measures 10 5/8 × 7 15/16 inches, showcasing the era's fascination with intimate, everyday moments amid the opulent French Enlightenment. The print depicts a young schoolmistress surrounded by attentive boys and girls engaged in reading...
About the Artist
A. J. Defehrt|François Boucher · 1708–1779
A. J. Defehrt (1723–1779) was a French draftsman, painter, and engraver whose career is best defined by his substantial contributions to one of the most ambitious publishing projects of the European Enlightenment: the illustrated plates of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. This monumental project, which aimed t...