Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse Du Barry, and her servant Zamor
Medium
Color aquatint, hand applied opaque white and embossing on laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 39.9 × 31.2 cm (15 3/4 × 12 5/16 in.); Sheet: 44.7 × 33.6 cm (17 5/8 × 13 1/4 in.)
Classification
aquatint
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
61073
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This striking color aquatint captures Jeanne Bécu, the Comtesse Du Barry, the influential mistress of King Louis XV alongside her young servant Zamor in 1771. Created just years before the French Revolution, the print reflects the opulence and exoticism of the late French court, where figures like Du Barry embodied both glamour and social controversy. Zamor, depicted as a page, adds a layer of cultural fascination with distant lands that was common in aristocratic portraiture of the period. Jean Baptiste André Gautier d'Agoty employed the innovative medium of color aquatint, enhanced with han...