Dominique-Vivant Denon
French, 1747-1825
Lithography Lesson
INV-4176
Dominique-Vivant Denon
French, 1747-18251819
Lithography Lesson
Dominique-Vivant Denon French, 1747-1825 →lithographprint
Date
1819
Medium
Lithograph on off-white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 21.8 × 32.2 cm (8 5/8 × 12 11/16 in.); Sheet: 27.1 × 36.5 cm (10 11/16 × 14 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
John H. Wrenn Memorial Fund
The painter and printmaker Dominique-Vivant Denon excelled in quick sketches of people and monuments. In 1798 he accompanied a French expedition to Egypt, documenting architectural settings for many of the artifacts Napoleon acquired. Back in France, Denon produced numerous lithographs in the same lively manner and hosted gatherings in which guests attempted to produce lithographs themselves. Here the group admires the skill of one of Denon’s female guests, possibly also his pupil. Unusually, she draws a muscular naked man on her thin lithographic stone. In this period, women receiving professional academy training did not study from the nude, yet this amateur exudes pride in her accomplishment.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Allegory of Maternal Felicity
Dominique-Vivant Denon French, 1747-1825
Conversation, a Family Drawing and Reading, the Nurse Holding an Infant, a Portrait of Prince Edmond de Beauvau Behind a Chair, and Portraits of Madame Lavallée and Madame Vallory, Both Seated
Dominique-Vivant Denon French, 1747-1825
Family Group (Woman Reading to Two Children)
Dominique-Vivant Denon French, 1747-1825
