Figures in Procession
18th century
Medium
Pen and black ink, brush and gray wash on blue paper. Framing lines in pen and black ink.
Dimensions
sheet: 6 5/16 x 10 3/8 in. (16 x 26.4 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Regina Slatkin, 1963
Accession Number
63.712.27
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Figures in Procession," an enchanting 18th-century drawing an anonymous French artist, a lively parade of figures, including male nudes, women, and musicians with instruments. Created on blue prepared paper—a popular 18th-century technique that provided a luminous mid-tone for highlights and shadows—this sheet measures 6 5/16 x 10 3/8 inches. The composition, framed by precise pen lines, evokes the festive spirit of French Rococo-era gatherings, where processions often celebrated revelry, mythology, or public spectacles. Executed in pen and black ink with brush and gray wash, the work showca...
About the Artist
Anonymous, French, 18th century · 1700–1800
The artist known as Anonymous, French, 18th century, represents a collective of unidentified talents active roughly between 1700 and 1800, a period of profound artistic evolution in France from the opulent Rococo to the austere dawn of Neoclassicism and Revolutionary fervor. Little is documented about their personal training or mentors, as their anonymity obscures individual biographies, though th...