La Brouette (The Paltry Coach)

c. 1748, published in or after 1754

Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin

Associated Names
Charles Germain de Saint-Aubin

Artist, French, 1721 - 1786

Etienne Fessard

Publisher, French, 1714 - 1777

This is a drawing of two anthropomorphic butterflies transporting a wheeled canopy cart on a naturalistic platform. The drawing features two butterflies with human-like torsos standing on their hind limbs. They are facing each other while holding the handles of the cart, which is centered between them. The cart has wheels and is topped with a canopy under which a small creature can be seen peeking out. The scene rests on a platform resembling a tree branch or ledge adorned with greenery and tendrils. Below this ledge, there are decorative florals and stylized root-like structures, with "LA BROUETTE" inscribed at the bottom of the drawing.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    plate: 18.4 × 27.8 cm (7 1/4 × 10 15/16 in.)
    sheet: 30 cm (11 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1958.8.128

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Baudicour, no. 6

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 3 June 1955, no. 68); (via Henri M. Petiet, Paris); Lessing J. Rosenwald [1891-1979], Jenkintown, PA; gift to NGA, 1958.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1994

  • Fanciful Flourishes: Ornament in European Graphic Art and Related Objects, 1300-1800, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994.

Bibliography

1859

  • Baudicour, Prosper de. Le peintre-graveur français continue, ou catalogue raisonné des estampes gravees par les peintres et les dessinateurs de l'ecole française nes dans le XVIIIe siècle. 2 vols. Paris, 1859-1861. Reprint, Paris, 1967: Prosper de. Le peintre-graveur français continue, ou catalogue raisonné des estampes gravees par les peintres et les dessinateurs de l'ecole française nes dans le XVIIIe siècle. 2 vols. Paris: Mme Bouchard Huzard, Rapilly [etc.], 1859-1861.

Inscriptions

recto: in plate, in image, at lower center: LA BROUETTE; verso: at center in brown ink in 18th-century hand: No 92 [?]

Markings

recto: none; verso: National Gallery of Art

Watermarks

grapes

Wikidata ID

Q65222196

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