The Prayer, plate 6 from Paul et Virginie
1795-97
Medium
Etching and engraving in yellow, blue, red, and black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 37.5 × 41.2 cm (14 13/16 × 16 1/4 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 42 × 47.5 cm (16 9/16 × 18 3/4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
28759
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In this print the other characters keep the discovery of Virginie’s body a secret from Paul, because he has been inconsolable in the weeks since the shipwreck. This scene shows Paul, Domingue, and the narrator praying near the church where, unbeknownst to Paul, Virginie has already been buried. In the coming months, most of the characters will succumb to illness, insanity, or death as they are consumed by their grief, leaving only the narrator to recount the story.