Head of a Young Woman Asleep
1787/95
Medium
Crayon-manner engraving in red-brown on ivory wove China paper with a laid pattern
Dimensions
Image: 31.5 × 35.1 cm (12 7/16 × 13 7/8 in.); Plate: 35.7 × 35.8 cm (14 1/16 × 14 1/8 in.); Sheet: 38 × 38.1 cm (15 × 15 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
109039
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Framed drawings came into vogue in 18th-century France during the Regency era of interior decoration. Their popularity spawned innovations in printmaking, unrivaled in technical sophistication, to create both original and reproductive prints that looked like drawings and satisfied the needs of the market. Roulettes and mattoirs, handheld tools with a cluster of fine-toothed ends, were devised to punch notches in metal plates so that, when inked and printed, the marks imitated the look of crumbly...