The Weeping Willow with hidden silhouettes of the Royal family
Medium
Engraving
Dimensions
Image: 7 3/8 × 5 1/2 in. (18.7 × 14 cm) Sheet: 8 11/16 × 5 13/16 in. (22 × 14.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Bequest of Mary Martin, 1938
Accession Number
38.145.438
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1795 amid the turbulent aftermath of the French Revolution, *The Weeping Willow with hidden silhouettes of the Royal family* is a poignant engraving that captures the era's grief and secrecy. Produced anonymously, this small print (image measures 7 3/8 × 1/2 in.) depicts a drooping willow tree—a universal symbol of mourning—whose intricate branches cleverly conceal silhouettes of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and their son Louis XVII. These Bourbon royals had met tragic ends: Louis XVI guillotined in 1793, his queen following soon after, and the young dauphin dying in captivity that...
About the Artist
Anonymous|Marie Antoinette, Queen of France|Louis XVII|Louis XVI, King of France|Anonymous
In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...