The Prayer, plate 6 from Paul et Virginie

Description

In this print the other characters keep the discovery of Virginie’s body a secret from Paul, because he has been inconsolable in the weeks since the shipwreck. This scene shows Paul, Domingue, and the narrator praying near the church where, unbeknownst to Paul, Virginie has already been buried. In the coming months, most of the characters will succumb to illness, insanity, or death as they are consumed by their grief, leaving only the narrator to recount the story.

The Prayer, plate 6 from Paul et Virginie

Charles Melchior Descourtis

1795-97

Accession Number

28759

Medium

Etching and engraving in yellow, blue, red, and black on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 37.5 × 41.2 cm (14 13/16 × 16 1/4 in.); Sheet, cut within platemark: 42 × 47.5 cm (16 9/16 × 18 3/4 in.)

Classification

etching

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

The Joseph Brooks Fair Collection