The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 22, 2026

A vertically oriented lithograph in black ink depicts three women in long dresses and a child, all with light skin tones, in a wooded clearing. On our left, two women sit on a bench. To our right, another woman sits on a stump, her back to us. A child stands between them. Tall, slender trees frame a distant river with a multi-arched bridge and buildings. A hat hangs from a branch at the left.

The Picnic

c. 1810

Charles Philibert Lasteyrie du Saillant

(French, 1759–1849)

after Alexandre Moitte

(French, 1750–1828)
France, 19th century
lithograph
Image: 26.3 x 18.4 cm (10 3/8 x 7 1/4 in.); Sheet: 31 x 23.4 cm (12 3/16 x 9 3/16 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. Lewis B. Williams Collection 1940.1138
Location: Not on view

Description

Lithography did not really get under way in France until 1816 when Lasteyrie and Godefroy Engelmann, both trained in the shop of lithography inventor Alois Senefelder (1771-1834) in Germany, opened separate lithographic establishments in Paris. Antoine-Jean Gros and Carle and Horace Vernet were among the earliest artists engaged by Lasteryrie and Godefroy to draw original designs upon the lithographic stone.
  • Catalogue of an exhibition of the art of lithography: commemorating the sesquicentennial of its invention, 1798-1948. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, November 11, 1948-January 2, 1949. Mentioned: p. 48; Reproduced: Plate VI archive.org
  • Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).
  • {{cite web|title=The Picnic|url=false|author=Charles Philibert Lasteyrie du Saillant, Alexandre Moitte|year=c. 1810|access-date=22 April 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1940.1138