Egyptian Street Scene
1842/47
Medium
Black Conté crayon, with red chalk, graphite and stumping, on cream laid paper
Dimensions
45.3 × 30.5 cm (17 7/8 × 12 1/16 in.)
Classification
conté crayon
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
100268
Art Historical Context
Charles François Eustache’s *Egyptian Street Scene*1842/47) offers a vivid glimpse of mid-nineteenth-century interest in distant cultures through the intimate medium of drawing. Created on cream laid paper with black Conté crayon, red chalk, graphite, and stumping, the work measures just under eighteen by twelve inches. These materials allowed the artist to achieve rich tonal gradations and subtle color accents, lending both architectural forms and figures a lively, almost atmospheric presence. Conté crayon, developed in the late eighteenth century, became prized for its ability to combine th...