Landscape with Peasants Fording a Stream

Landscape with Peasants Fording a Stream

Jean-Baptiste Le Prince

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This previously unknown landscape drawing is among the earliest known works by Le Prince, made when he was still working closely with his teacher, François Boucher (1703-1770). It clearly displays the lineage of Boucher's particular conception of the pastoral, combining a strong interest in northern art with a Rococo sensibility, while at the same time anticipating the arabesque-based compositions and delicate use of wash that characterize Le Prince's mature landscapes.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Landscape with Peasants Fording a StreamLandscape with Peasants Fording a StreamLandscape with Peasants Fording a StreamLandscape with Peasants Fording a StreamLandscape with Peasants Fording a Stream

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.