Jean Michel Moreau
French, 1741-1814
The Fireworks
INV-2023
Jean Michel Moreau
French, 1741-1814January 21, 1782
The Fireworks
Jean Michel Moreau French, 1741-1814 →etchingpaper
Date
January 21, 1782
Medium
Etching and engraving in black on cream wove paper, laid down on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 46 × 73.5 cm (18 1/8 × 28 15/16 in.); Plate: 52.5 × 78.6 cm (20 11/16 × 31 in.); Sheet: 54.3 × 80.2 cm (21 7/16 × 31 5/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Fund
Theatrical spectacles often marked the momentous occasions of royal weddings and births. These ephemeral events incorporated dance, music, poetry, and even pyrotechnics, aristocratic antics captured in the ephemeral medium of print. Jean-Michel Moreau the Younger created an expansive etching of the fireworks celebrating the birth of the dauphin Louis-Joseph, son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. This iconic image emphasizes the power of the festival machine, a veritable temple of fireworks, by miniaturizing the onlookers within the massing crowd. The etching’s size contributes to its rarity; this impression was preserved in an album, as were most surviving examples.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
The Last Words of Jean Jacques Rousseau
Heinrich Guttenberg (German, 1749-1818) after Jean Michel Moreau (French, 1741-1814)
Creusa Pleads with Aeneas as He Leaves for War
Jean Michel Moreau French, 1741-1814
Les Dernieres Paroles de J.J. Roseau (The Last Words of J.J. Rosseau)
Heinrich Guttenberg (German, 1749-1818) after Jean Michel Moreau (French, 1741-1814)
