The Bend in the River
Medium
Black chalk with touches of white gouache on figures, touches of pen and brown ink, on light brown paper
Dimensions
9 7/8 x 15 in. (25.1 x 38.1 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Karen B. Cohen Gift and Karen B. Cohen Fund, 1993
Accession Number
1993.12.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Simon Mathurin Lantara's *The Bend in the River (1767) captures the serene beauty of a pastoral French landscape, featuring a winding river dotted with boats, flanked by trees, houses, and gentle hills. Created during the late Rococo period, Lantara—a French artist renowned for his atmospheric landscapes—evokes a sense of tranquility and harmony with nature, hallmarks of 18th-century idyllic scenes that romanticized the countryside amid growing urbanization. This drawing exemplifies Lantara's skillful use of mixed media: black chalk for fluid contours and shading, accented by touches of white...