Gilles Demarteau

Gilles Demarteau was a leading figure of the French eighteenth-century crayon manner, the reproductive technique that simulated the soft grain of chalk drawings through etching and engraving. His prints, typically pulled in brown ink, translate the fluid touch of pastel and chalk originals into luminous, drawing-like surfaces, and his subjects range from playful children and putti to fountains, soap bubbles and heads of men. This collection gathers seven such sheets, spanning 1755 to 1773, with impressions up to that later date, and the crayon and chalk manner variants dominate throughout.

7 works in the collection · All public domain (CC0)

Seated Woman Reading

· Chalk manner etching and engraving printed in brown ink

Les Enfants physiciens

· Color chalk manner

Three Children On Dolphin

1755–76 · Crayon manner engraving in brown ink

The Soap Bubble

1756–76 · Crayon manner engraving printed in brown ink

Fountain with Two Cupids

ca. 1773 · Crayon manner engraving printed in brown ink

Head of a Man (mid-18th century)

mid-18th century · Crayon-manner engraving

Allegory for the Commemoration of a Marriage

mid-18th century · Crayon-manner engraving in red ink