The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 27, 2024
The Moscow Tavern
c. 1773
Location: not on view
Description
French art during the 1700s often reflects an interest in the exotic, especially in imagery of lands then perceived as far away and unusual-such as Turkey and China, places with religions and cultural practices different from those of Western Europe. Le Prince developed his own type of exotic imagery based on the peoples and customs of Russia. But unlike most artists, who fabricated fantastic visions of such places, he based his work on his own observations made in Russia between 1758 and 1763. After returning to Paris, Le Prince continued to rely on his Russian experiences for artistic subject matter. This drawing shows a rustic structure built as an outdoor pleasure garden and drinking establishment. Le Prince, who was an innovative printmaker, developed the medium known as aquatint, which allowed artists to translate the broad tonal washes of ink drawing into a type of etching. Le Prince translated this drawing into an aquatint. For more about this technique, see the exhibition about French printmaking on view nearby in galleries 109 and 110.- [Christie's, London (9 December 1975), no. 78]; purchased in 1975.
- Foster, Carter E., Sylvain Bellenger, and Patrick Shaw Cable. French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Referenced: cat. no. 14, p. 38-39, Reproduced: p. 39
- French Master Drawings from the Collection of Muriel Butkin. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26-October 28, 2001); Dahesh Museum of Art (February 19-May 18, 2002).
- {{cite web|title=The Moscow Tavern|url=false|author=Jean Baptiste Le Prince|year=c. 1773|access-date=27 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.355