Sea Nymphs and Sea Gods

Currently not on view

Sea Nymphs and Sea Gods

c. 1762

Gilles Demarteau the Elder (French, 1722–1776) After a drawing by François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)

By the 1740s, the practice of framing and displaying drawings, particularly those by popular contemporary artists like François Boucher, had become widespread. An experienced printmaker himself, Boucher was quick to grasp the potential of the chalk-manner method of engraving invented in the late 1750s and he furnished Gilles Demarteau with hundreds of drawings to reproduce. Demarteau created the print Sea Nymphs and Sea Gods after one of Boucher's preparatory drawings for a tapestry design. Chalk-manner prints like Demarteau's were avidly collected by those unable to afford Boucher's drawings. This is the only known example of this print before an engraved title was added to the blank space below.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Titles:

Sea Nymphs and Sea Gods

Date:

c. 1762

Artists:

Gilles Demarteau the Elder (French, 1722–1776) After a drawing by François Boucher (French, 1703–1770)

Medium:

Chalk-manner engraving printed in sanguine and brown ink from two plates (proof before letters)

Dimensions:

Plate: 15 3/16 × 20 15/16 inches (38.5 × 53.2 cm) Sheet: 19 5/8 × 21 3/8 inches (49.8 × 54.3 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

The Muriel and Philip Berman Gift, acquired from the John F. Lewis Collection given to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1933 by Mrs. John F. Lewis, with funds contributed by Muriel and Philip Berman, gifts (by exchange) of Lisa Norris Elkins, Bryant W. Langston, Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, with additional funds contributed by John Howard McFadden, Jr., Thomas Skelton Harrison, and the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, 1985

Accession Number:

1985-52-1

Geography:

Made in France, Europe

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Currently not on view