The Roller
Medium
Etching and plate tone on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 8.3 × 17.6 cm (3 5/16 × 6 15/16 in.); Sheet: 33.4 × 45.3 cm (13 3/16 × 17 7/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
133658
Art Historical Context
**The Roller** (1868) by Charles Émile Jacque captures a moment of rural labor through the meticulous medium of etching and plate tone on ivory laid paper. Jacque, a prominent French printmaker and painter of the Barbizon school (c. 1830–1870), was renowned for his realistic depictions of peasant life, farm animals, and pastoral landscapes. This intimate work, with its image measuring just 8.3 × 17.6 cm, exemplifies his skill in rendering everyday scenes with a keen eye for texture and atmosphere, housed today in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings department. Etching allowed J...