The Pleasant Concert
Medium
Engraving with stipple, roulette and etching in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 35.4 × 43 cm (13 15/16 × 16 15/16 in.); Plate: 38.7 × 46 cm (15 1/4 × 18 1/8 in.); Sheet: 40.6 × 50.2 cm (16 × 19 13/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
30026
Art Historical Context
"The Pleasant Concert," created by Charles Nicolas Varin in 1784, captures the refined elegance of late eighteenth-century French visual culture through the medium of print. This engraving, executed with a combination of stipple, roulette, and etching on ivory laid paper, demonstrates the technical sophistication available to artists of the period. Such layered techniques allowed for rich tonal variation and delicate textures, transforming a simple black-and-white image into a lively, almost painterly surface that could reach wide audiences beyond the original drawing or painting. Housed in t...