Three Sleeping Sprites with a Satyr
1769
Medium
etching on laid paper
Dimensions
plate: 11.6 x 14.4 cm (4 9/16 x 5 11/16 in.) sheet: 27.8 x 38.4 cm (10 15/16 x 15 1/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1999.100.6
Art Historical Context
Salomon Gessner’s 1769 etching *Three Sleeping Sprites with a Satyr* captures a tranquil moment from classical mythology rendered in delicate lines on laid paper. Gessner, a Swiss artist and writer celebrated for his pastoral scenes, often blended Arcadian landscapes with figures from ancient legend. Created during the late Rococo period, the print reflects the eighteenth-century taste for idyllic, dreamlike subjects that offered viewers a gentle escape into nature and fantasy. The small plate size—just under five by six inches—invites intimate viewing, allowing the fine etched details of the...
About the Artist
Salomon Gessner · 1730–1788
Salomon Gessner was born in Zurich in 1730 into a family of printers and publishers, an upbringing that placed books, images, and ideas at the center of his world from an early age. Though largely self-taught as a visual artist, he received some instruction during a period in Berlin, where he encountered the German Rococo tradition, and his mature work reflects a deep absorption in the pastoral li...