This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery. Please follow the links below for related online resources or visit our current exhibitions schedule.
The names of the printmakers who pioneered these techniques--Bonnet, Demarteau, Janinet, Descourtis, and Debucourt, to name a few--are not well known today, but the artists whose compositions they engraved rank among the most famous of the 18th century--Boucher, Watteau, Fragonard, Robert, Boilly, among others. The prints capture the spirit of the times--the reigns of Louis XV and Louis XVI and the advent of the Revolution--in a unique and highly memorable way. The exhibition complements The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting.