The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2023

The Three Graces

1786

Jean François Janinet

(French, 1752–1814)

after Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini

(Italian, 1675–1741)

France, 18th century

Color wash-manner etching and engraving

Sheet: 50.5 x 33.5 cm (19 7/8 x 13 3/16 in.); Platemark: 44 x 32 cm (17 5/16 x 12 5/8 in.)

Gift of Moselle Taylor Meals 1977.94

Catalogue raisonné: Fonds Français 18ieme Siecle - XII.24.40

State: I/II

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

In addition to his work in printmaking, Jean-François Janinet was an amateur physicist and experimented with traveling by hot air balloon.

Description

Since ancient times, art critics had praised painters for their ability to portray subjects so lifelike that they might be mistaken for the real thing. The mastery of printing techniques that produced full-color images like this one featuring female nudes with remarkably naturalistic skin gave French printmakers new capabilities that for centuries had been the exclusive domain of painters.

Exhibition history

Year in Review: 1977. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 28, 1977-January 22, 1978).

Gifts of the Print Club of Cleveland, 1969 - 1979. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 4, 1979-January 27, 1980).

French Prints and Drawings in the Age of the Bourbons, 1589-1792. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 2-May 16, 1982).

The Lessons of the Academy. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-May 29, 1983).

Printing in Color. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10-November 17, 1985).

Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).

Inventive Impressions: 18th- and 19-Century French Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001).

Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1977.94