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The Musician
Public Domain

Jean-Baptiste Le Prince

The Musician

1768

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Jean-Baptiste Le Prince

The Musician

1768

Physical Qualities Etching and aquatint printed in brown, Sheet: 272 x 207 mm. (10 11/16 x 8 1/8 in.) Plate: 245 x 168 mm. (9 5/8 x 6 5/8 in.)
Credit Line Purchase Fund
Object Number 1960.172
This print, created as a pair, depict women making music and gardening. The sensitive gradations of light and dark—created using the aquatint technique—replicate the appearance of ink or watercolor drawings and paintings. Much like Jean-Baptiste Greuze’s portrait nearby of a woman playing a guitar, these prints evoke sensations of both sound and touch. However, rather than functioning as formal portraits, the prints serve as decorative and romanticized images of women performing leisure activities. The clothing and attributes— including their striped skirts and headscarves—associate these women with historic representations of Romani people, but their true ethnicities and identities are unknown.
BMA, Jacobs 4 rotation, July 10, 2023 - January 8, 2024.

Inscribed: In plate, in image, at lower left: "Le Prince 1768"; in plate, below composition at center: "La Musicienne"

Markings: None

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