Young Woman Sitting near a Tree
Medium
lithograph on wove paper [proof]
Dimensions
image: 24.5 × 21.5 cm (9 5/8 × 8 7/16 in.) sheet: 35 × 25.9 cm (13 3/4 × 10 3/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
The Helena E. M. Gunnarsson Fund
Accession Number
2022.194.1
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
In the tranquil "Young Woman Sitting near a," French artist Nicolas-Toussaintlet captures a moment of quiet repose amid nature. Created in 1828, this lithograph proof on wove paper measures 24.5 × 21.5 cm (image) and reflects the Romantic era's fascination with everyday life and pastoral simplicity. Charlet, a master lithographer (1792–1845), rose to fame for his spirited military scenes celebrating Napoleonic soldiers, but he shifts to intimate genre subjects, blending sentiment with subtle humor. Lithography, pioneered just decades earlier, revolutionized printmaking by allowing artists to draw directly on stone with greasy crayon, yielding rich tonal gradations impossible in earlier techniques like etching. As a proof—an early trial impression before the full edition—this work reveals Charlet's process, with its fresh, unpolished vitality. Produced during France's Restoration period, it evokes the era's nostalgia for rural idylls amid post-Revolutionary upheaval. Housed in the National Gallery of Art's Prints department (CG-E) through The Helena E. M. Gunnarsson Fund, this sheet (35 × 25.9 cm) invites us to appreciate how affordable prints democratized art, bringing Charlet's evocative scenes into modest 19th-century homes. A gem of technical innovation and gentle storytelling!
About the Artist
Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet · 1792–1845
Comment on works: genre