Evening
Medium
etching and drypoint on Japan paper
Dimensions
image: 45 × 39.1 cm (17 11/16 × 15 3/8 in.) plate: 47.7 × 40 cm (18 3/4 × 15 3/4 in.) sheet: 58.9 × 46.4 cm (23 3/16 × 18 1/4 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1981.1.1
Art Historical Context
**Evening**, an exquisite 1882 etching and drypoint by Félix Bracquemond Théodore Rousseau, captures the serene hush of twilight in a masterful print on delicate Japan paper. Rousseau, a leading figure of the Barbizon School 19th-century French movement unidealized nature—painted poetic landscapes that influenced Impressionism. Bracquemond, a etcher and proponent of the etching revival, faithfully translated Rousseau's vision into intricate lines, preserving the original's moody atmosphere of fading light and shadowed foliage. The medium shines here: etching creates precise, acid-bitten lines...