The Pranksters (Les Espiègles)

Description

This meticulously crafted color print reproduces an oil painting by Jean-Frédéric Schall, an artist best known for his pastoral and mildly erotic scenes.During the French Revolution (1789–99), the market for deluxe color prints declined, as titillating subjects and signs of luxury were considered immoral. When attitudes relaxed around 1800, printmakers like Descourtis made a few color prints using multiple plates to layer tinted inks as they had before the Revolution. However, this time-consuming and expensive process was soon replaced by hand coloring that workers could more cheaply and easily accomplish.

Provenance

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The Pranksters (Les Espiègles)

Charles-Melchior Descourtis

c. 1798

Accession Number

2015.150

Medium

Wash manner etching and engraving printed in blue, red, yellow, and black

Dimensions

Sheet: 57 x 45 cm (22 7/16 x 17 11/16 in.); to borderline: 46.4 x 37.4 cm (18 1/4 x 14 3/4 in.)

Classification

Print

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Gift of the Print Club of Cleveland in honor of the museum's one-hundredth anniversary