Venus and Cupid — Principes de Dessein

A graceful mythological scene executed in the manière de crayon, faithfully imitating the warmth of a red chalk drawing.

After Louis Doré; engraved by Edmé Bouchardon. From Principes de Dessein d'Après Nature. Published by Mondhare et Jean, Paris, c. 1785.

The Principes de Dessein d'Après Nature compiled academic figure studies for use in French drawing schools, gathering plates by leading eighteenth-century masters. Bouchardon, more celebrated as a sculptor than an engraver, brought a sculptor's sense of modelled volume to his prints; here he translates a Doré composition into the soft, chalky vocabulary that defined French academic instruction in the period.

Etching and engraving in crayon manner. Sheet size approximately 41.8 × 29.7 cm. Very Good.