Frère Luce
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
sheet: 20 3/8 x 14 15/16 in. (51.8 x 38 cm) image: 15 5/8 x 12 3/8 in. (39.7 x 31.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
Accession Number
59.608.67
Tags
Art Historical Context
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin’s *Frère Luce* (1767) is a captivating etching that captures the charm of 18th-century life. Saint-Aubin, a prolific artist and master engraver (1724–1780), was renowned for his intricate vignettes of urban scenes, architecture, and activities, often infused with the playful elegance of the Rococo style transitioning toward Neoclassicism. This large-scale print—measuring nearly 20 by 15 inches on the sheet—showcases his skill in rendering fine details through etching, a technique using acid to bite into a metal plate, allowing for delicate lines and tonal depth that brou...
About the Artist
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin · 1724–1780
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724–1780) was one of the most vivid and irrepressible graphic artists of eighteenth-century France, a tireless draughtsman whose sketchbooks and prints constitute an extraordinary visual chronicle of Parisian life during the Ancien Régime. Born into a family with strong connections to the decorative arts — his father was an embroiderer to the king — Saint-Aubin received fo...