Jeune femme drapée, assise, arrosant une plante (Young draped woman, seated, watering a plant in the style of red-figure vase painting), most likely from Recueil de Différentes Compositions Frises et Ornements dessinées et gravées à la manière du lavis par La Grenée le Juene Se trouve chez l'Auteur, au Louvre et chez Basan, rue et Hôtel Serpente A Paris, in an album containing Recueil de Compositions par Lagrenée Le Jeune (Collection of Compositions by Lagrenée the Younger)

Art Historical Context

In the late 18th century, artist Jean-Jacques Lagrenée the Younger (1730–3), a celebrated history painter bridging Rococo elegance and emerging Neoclassicism, this enchanting print as part his *Recueil deérentes Compositions Fr et Ornements*. Dated around 1784 and published in Paris through his own studio at the Louvre, *Jeune femme drapée assise, arrosant plante* captures a serene young woman seated and watering a plant, evoking the grace of ancient Greek life. Rendered in etching and aquatint with red and black inks on a modest plate (4 3/4 × 3 1/8 in.), the work masterfully imitates the red-figure vase painting style of classical antiquity—a popular Neoclassical homage during France's Enlightenment era. This technique allowed Lagrenée to achieve subtle tonal gradations, mimicking the fired clay of Greek pottery while adapting it for ornamental friezes and decorative arts. Printed on larger sheets for collectors, it reflects the period's passion for reviving ancient motifs in architecture and design. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department, this piece highlights women's poised roles in classical-inspired imagery, blending education with beauty for 18th-century audiences fascinated by the past. A delightful window into Lagrenée's versatile printmaking, it invites us to appreciate how antiquity inspired modern ornamentation.

About the Artist

Jean Jacques Lagrenée · 1739–1821

Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, known as Lagrenée the Younger (1739–1821), was a distinguished French history painter, draftsman, and engraver born into a family of artists in Paris. The younger brother of the prominent Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée (Lagrenée the Elder), he studied under his elder sibling at the École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts in Paris, honing his skills in the rigorous academic t...