The Well
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 7/8 × 7 1/16 in. (15 × 18 cm) Plate: 3 3/8 × 4 15/16 in. (8.5 × 12.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of William Loring Andrews, 1883, transferred from the Library
Accession Number
83.1.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
**The Well**, a delicate etching from 1845, showcases the collaborative talents of French artists Charles Jacque and Auguste Delâtre. Jacque, known for his pastoral scenes, likely designed the composition, while Delâtre, a skilled printer, brought it to life through meticulous etching techniques. Measuring just 3 3/8 × 4 15/16 inches on the plate, this intimate print captures a simple rural moment—a well with buckets—evoking the everyday life of 19th-century French countryside. Etching, an intaglio process where acid etches lines into a metal plate, allowed for rich tonal contrasts and fine d...
About the Artist
Charles Jacque|Auguste Delâtre
Charles-Émile Jacque (1813–1894) was a pioneering French painter, engraver, and illustrator whose career bridged the worlds of printmaking and pastoral painting. Born in Paris amid a difficult childhood, he apprenticed at age seventeen to a map engraver, mastering drypoint technique and producing his first etching in 1830—a copy of a head after Rembrandt. After serving seven years in the French Ar...