The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

The Indiscretion

The Indiscretion

1788
(French, 1752–1814)
(Swedish)
France, 18th century
Color wash-manner engraving and etching
Sheet: 57.6 x 43 cm (22 11/16 x 16 15/16 in.); Platemark: 48.3 x 36.2 cm (19 x 14 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 2001.18
Catalogue raisonné: Portalis and Béraldi 41, Bocher 30 (Inventaire du Fonds Français 28, state III/IV)
Location: not on view

Description

The Indiscretion is from a suite of three scenes of women sharing secrets in the privacy of their boudoirs. The woman wearing a decadent hat has taken a love letter from the girl in white, who pleads with her older companion to give it back. Janinet refined the tools used in chalk-manner printmaking to create wash-manner etchings and engravings that imitate opaque watercolors, such as The Lover’s Visit and The Surprised Lovers on view nearby.
  • Cortland F. Bishop (Lugt Supplement 2770b); [American Art Association/ Anderson Galleries, 1935, lot 103, illustrated, p. 67]
  • Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
    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 Indiscretion|url=false|author=Jean François Janinet, Nicolas Lavreince|year=1788|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2001.18