Artwork Page for The Milk Woman

Details / Information for The Milk Woman

The Milk Woman

1774

Louis-Marin Bonnet

(French, 1736–1793)
Culture
France, 18th century
Medium
color-pastel–manner etching and engraving with applied gold leaf
Support
Laid paper
Measurements
Image: 28.3 x 23.3 cm (11 1/8 x 9 3/16 in.); Sheet: 32.3 x 25.1 cm (12 11/16 x 9 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Carole W. and Charles B. Rosenblatt Endowment Fund 2003.50
Catalogue raisonné
Le Blanc 439; Hérold 295
Public Domain
You can copy, modify, and distribute this work, all without asking permission. Learn more about CMA's Open Access Initiative.
Location
Not on view
Print
?

Did You Know?

The elaborate gold frame surrounding this print was created with some of the same techniques used to gild frames in 1700s.

Description

This print belongs to a series created by Louis-Marin Bonnet featuring innovative color printing techniques derived from optical science to mimic the pastel drawings and miniature paintings highly sought by collectors. To increase the works’ appeal, the artist also developed a method for printing decorative frames by applying gold leaf. Hoping to evade strict governmental regulations on the uses of gold in France, he passed off his prints as English imports, which he sold at his store Au Magasin Anglois (At the English Shop). Bonnet’s elaborate ruse included English titles, the address of a London printshop, and a pseudonym, L. Marin.
An oval pastel-manner etching and engraving depicts a young woman with light skin tone, her body angled slightly toward our right while looking at us with dark eyes and a faint smile. She wears a ruffled white cap and a red-and-white grid-patterned dress. Her left hand rests atop a metal canister. An ornate gold-and-blue patterned frame encloses the portrait, with scrollwork in the corners. Script below identifies her as "The Milk Woman."

The Milk Woman

1774

Louis-Marin Bonnet

(French, 1736–1793)
France, 18th century

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