The Pranksters (Les Espiègles)
Medium
Wash manner etching and engraving printed in blue, red, yellow, and black
Dimensions
{"sheet":{"height":0.57,"width":0.45},"to borderline":{"height":0.464,"width":0.374}}
Classification
Department
Prints
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of the Print Club of Cleveland in honor of the museum's one-hundredth anniversary
Accession Number
2015.150
Tags
About this artwork
This meticulously crafted color print reproduces an oil painting by Jean-Frédéric Schall, an artist best known for his pastoral and mildly erotic scenes.During the French Revolution (1789–99), the market for deluxe color prints declined, as titillating subjects and signs of luxury were considered immoral. When attitudes relaxed around 1800, printmakers like Descourtis made a few color prints using multiple plates to layer tinted inks as they had before the Revolution. However, this time-consumin...