Young Girl Holding a Bird

mid-1700s

after Jean Baptiste Le Prince

(French, 1734–1781)

Culture

France, 18th century

Medium

chalk-manner etching and engraving

Measurements

Sheet: 22.3 x 26.9 cm (8 3/4 x 10 9/16 in.); Platemark: 21.5 x 25.7 cm (8 7/16 x 10 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1927.335

Catalogue raisonné

Inventaire du Fonds Français XVIII.VI.413.255

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Location

Not on view

Description

In 1757, a printmaker named Jean-Charles François developed a printing technique to make facsimiles of chalk drawings. He perfected his method by inventing tools with toothed points of varying thicknesses set at irregular intervals and angles, imitating the random character of grains of chalk on textured paper. Gilles Demarteau adopted François's specialized implements to copy the chalk drawings of such well-known artists as Jean Baptiste le Prince and François Boucher.