The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 18, 2025
The Milk Woman
1774
(French, 1736–1793)
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.)
Catalogue raisonné: Le Blanc 439; Hérold 295
Location: Not on view
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.- ?–2003(August Laube, Zürich, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH)June 2, 2003–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
- {{cite web|title=The Milk Woman|url=false|author=Louis-Marin Bonnet|year=1774|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.50