Portrait of Étienne Maurice Falconet (1716–1791)
Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger
An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art
A testament to friendship and artistic lineage, this portrait of Etienne Maurice Falconet, who would go on to become one of the great French sculptors of the rococo period, was made by his teacher, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, another of the century’s great sculptors. From a Latin inscription in Falconet’s hand, we know that it was drawn in 1741, when Falconet was 26 and had spent almost a decade in the older artist’s studio. Admired for his lively and virtuoso renderings of character in terracotta and marble, Lemoyne made few drawings, yet in the this sheet we find these same qualities manifested. On a pieced-together paper support, black, red, and white chalks are put down with great speed and a firm hand. Stumping--a smudging of the black chalk—is used to lay in areas of tone and shadow, and highlights are added in quick touches of white chalk. Falconet was, by all accounts, a mischievous man with a sharp sense of humor. Lemoyne conveys this with the sidelong glance and hint of amusement. As in his best sculptures, Lemoyne has captured a fleeting expression, leaving us with the sense we are gazing upon a living, breathing person, whose personality plays across their features. Perrin Stein, 2012.
Drawings and Prints
An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art
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.