Plate 1: Young Woman Feeding her Infant, from Premier Livre de Sujets et Pastorales (First Book of Subjects and Pastorals)
Original title: Plate 1: Young Woman Feeding her Infant, from Premier Livre de Sujets et Pastorales (First Book of Subjects and Pastorals)
kurzbeschreibung
A young mother nurses her baby while two other children and a second woman keep her company. Gabriel Huquier made this image between 1720 and 1772 as an etching with engraving. The sheet belongs to a series of rural scenes.
Description
At the front a woman sits on a chair and gives her breast to a baby; a small boy stands beside her and holds something out to her hand. Another woman has settled on the floor and cradles a child in her arms. Daylight comes in through a window, and on the wall a mirror and a shelf of objects can be made out. A basket and a vessel stand on the plain floor. The rendering is rich in detail and stays in black and white, as is usual for an etching.
Context
Huquier, a French artist and publisher of the eighteenth century, issued many prints after his own designs and after work by other artists, above all François Boucher. The series 'Premier Livre de Sujets et Pastorales' falls in the Rococo period, when rural and domestic scenes were in demand. Huquier worked in Paris and often released his sheets as sets for collectors.
Impact
The household scene radiates calm and closeness, typical of the idyllic everyday picture in the Rococo. A clear arrangement and clean linework produce a balanced, almost tender mood. Maternal care and simple life stand in the foreground and speak to the viewer directly.
Technique
Etching and engraving complement each other here: combining the two processes allows fine lines and gradations that bring out the wealth of detail in the subject. Printing was on paper; the plate measures 26.8 × 20.5 cm, the sheet 36.4 × 26.2 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)