Femme debout de face
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 19 11/16 x 13 3/8 in. (50 x 34 cm) image: 14 5/8 x 9 15/16 in. (37.2 x 25.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Roland L. Redmond Gift, Louis V. Bell and Rogers Funds, 1972
Accession Number
1972.539.30
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created in 1772, *Femme debout de face* is a delicate etching that captures the elegance of French Rococo art. Jean-Honoré Fragonard, one of the period’s most celebrated painters, collaborated here with engraver Gilles Demarteau to translate a graceful female figure into print form. The work depicts a standing woman facing forward, rendered with the light, fluid lines characteristic of Fragonard’s style. Etchings like this played an important role in 18th-century France, allowing artists to share their designs with a broader audience beyond the royal court. Demarteau’s technical skill in etch...
About the Artist
Jean Honoré Fragonard|Gilles Demarteau · 1732–1806
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. Born in Grasse, he moved to Paris where he trained under Jean-Baptiste Chardin and François Boucher, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1752. After studying in Italy alongside Hubert Robert, Fragonard returned to Paris in 1761 to fi...