Le lever
Medium
etching and engraving
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Widener Collection
Accession Number
1942.9.2210
Art Historical Context
**Le lever** (1771) is a delicate etching and engraving by Jean Mass, faithfully reproducing a composition by the French Rococo painter Pierre-Ant Baudouin. Housed in the National Gallery Art's Widener CollectionDepartment CG-E), this print captures the playful intimacy of 18th-century galant scenes, where everyday moments like rising from bed were elevated into elegant vignettes of daily life and subtle sensuality. Baudouin, a prominent figure in the waning Rococo era, specialized in lighthearted, eroticized depictions of women in private settings, blending whimsy with refined sensuality. Ma...