The Pig Butcher
Medium
etching with engraving on chinese paper
Dimensions
sheet: 10.5 × 19 cm (4 1/8 × 7 1/2 in.) image: 9.7 × 8.1 cm (3 13/16 × 3 3/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Purchased as the Gift of Andrew Robison
Accession Number
2016.106.2
Art Historical Context
**The Pig Butcher** (1844) by Charles Émileque captures the gritty realities of rural French life through a masterful etching combined with engraving on delicate Chinese paper. Jacque, a prominent figure in the Barbizon School artists like Millet and Rousseau, specialized in pastoral scenes featuring animals and peasants. This intimate print, measuring just 9.7 × 8.1 cm, reflects the mid-19th-century Realist movement's embrace of everyday labor, moving away from idealized Romanticism toward unvarnished depictions of the countryside. The etching technique—where acid etches intricate lines into...