Le Menuet de la mariée (The Bride's Minuet)

1786

Philibert-Louis Debucourt

Associated Names
Philibert-Louis Debucourt

Artist/publisher, French, 1755 - 1832

This is a painting of an outdoor festivity. The scene shows a wedding celebration with lively characters in period attire, dancing and socializing in front of a rustic structure with fabric banners. Musicians are playing as people of different ages engage in dance and merriment. Onlookers watch under a partly cloudy sky, creating a festive atmosphere. The style is reminiscent of Jean-Baptiste Greuze, who focused on detailed genre scenes capturing human emotion and social interactions.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    color etching and wash manner on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image (including framing line): 30.7 × 23.4 cm (12 1/16 × 9 3/16 in.)
    sheet (trimmed within the platemark): 38.3 × 27 cm (15 1/16 × 10 5/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1958.8.87

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Fenaille 1899, no. 8, State v/vi

Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1965

  • Master Prints from the Rosenwald Collection, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1965, no. 87.

1984

  • Regency to Empire: French Printmaking 1715-1814, The Baltimore Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1984-1985, no. 98, repro.

2003

  • Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003-2004, no. 58b, as Le Menuet de la mariée (The Bride's Minuet).

Bibliography

1899

  • Fenaille, Maurice. L'Oeuvre grave de P.L. Debucourt (1755-1832). Paris: Librairie Damascene Morgand, 1899.

1984

  • Carlson, Victor I. and John W. Ittman. Regency to Empire : French Printmaking 1715-1814. Minneapolis, MN, 1984: no.98.

2003

  • Colorful Impressions: The Printmaking Revolution in Eighteenth-Century France. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2003-2004: no. 58b.

Inscriptions

recto: in plate, below image, at left: Peint et Grave par P.L. De Bucourt Peintre Du Roi 1786.; in plate, below image, at center: LA MENUET DE LA MARIÉE / Dédié à Monsieur Le Comte de Cossé / Brigadier des Armées du Roy Mestre de Camp Commandant du / Régiment de Vivarais premier Gentilhomme de la Chambre de Monsieur frere du Roy; in plate, at bottom left: à Paris chez l'auteur Cour du vieux Louvre la 5.em Porte / a gauche en entrant par la Colonade au 1.er; in plate, at bottom center: Imprimé par Chapuis.; in plate, at bottom right: Par son très humble et très / Obeissant Serviteur De Bucourt; verso: at bottom right in graphite in later hand: B-22, 064

Markings

recto: none; verso: National Gallery of Art

Wikidata ID

Q65364286

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