Portrait of Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon

Art Historical Context

This striking portrait, created around 1802 by Augustin de Saint-Aubin, captures Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon through the refined techniques of etching and engraving. As a third state of four impressions, the print reveals the artist’s careful revisions to the copper plate, a common practice that allowed for subtle adjustments in detail and tone before final publication. Measuring just over six by four inches, the intimate scale invites close viewing of the subject’s features and attire. Saint-Aubin, active in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century France, specialized in such graphic portraits that helped circulate images of notable figures among collectors and the public. The combination of etching’s fluid lines with engraving’s precise hatching gives the work both spontaneity and crisp definition, qualities that made prints an essential medium for preserving likenesses during this period. Housed today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Drawings and Prints, the sheet offers a window into the era’s fascination with commemorating literary and cultural personalities through accessible yet technically sophisticated art.

About the Artist

Augustin de Saint-Aubin · 1736–1807

Comment on works: Illustrator; Engraver