Little girl playing with a dog, from "Deuxième Livre de Figures d'après les porcelaines de la Manufacture Royale de France"
Original title: Little girl playing with a dog, from "Deuxième Livre de Figures d'après les porcelaines de la Manufacture Royale de France" (Second Book of Figures after porcelains from the Manufacture Royale de France)
kurzbeschreibung
An etching and engraving by Pierre François Tardieu, made after 1757, showing a young woman in flowing drapery seated on a rise and playing with a small dog. The sheet belongs to a series reproducing porcelain figures of the Manufacture Royale de France.
Description
A young woman sits on a hill and teases a small crouching animal with a piece of cloth. Her long garment slips from her shoulders, leaving them bare, and her hair is gathered in a knot. Behind her a grassy, hilly landscape stretches beneath a cloud-filled sky. Gray tones govern the monochrome sheet, and the light falls soft and evenly. Delicate lines and hatching bring out the texture of the fabric and the movements of the figures in a Baroque manner.
Context
The prints were based on porcelain figures from the Royal Manufactory of France, produced for the court in the eighteenth century. Tardieu, a French engraver, made these reproductions so that the art of porcelain could reach a wider audience. The dating after 1757 falls within the reign of Louis XV, when decorative subjects of this kind were prized.
Impact
An idyllic, rural mood emanates from the sheet; the balanced layout and the gentle interplay of figure and animal have a calming effect. The delicate linework and graded gray tones produce an elegant, almost tender aesthetic that matches the Rococo taste of those years.
Technique
Etching and engraving work together here to give precise line and fine hatching. The process captures soft fabrics and natural movement, as was characteristic of eighteenth-century printmaking.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)