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January 20-April 21 |
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The
Household Accounts
(L’Œconome), 1754
The
Palazzo Barberini,
from the Vedute di Roma, 1749
from the Vedute of Rome, 1761
View
and Plan of the Vauxhall at
the Foire Saint-Germain, 1772
Sculpture:
Workshop for Plaster Casting,
Tools and Methods, 1751-1772
Sculpture:
Various Procedures
for Working on Marble and Tools, 1751-1772
JACQUES
PHILIPPE LE BAS, French, 1707 - 1783;
after JEAN BAPTISTE SIMÉON CHARDIN, French, 1699–1779
The Household Accounts (L’Œconome)
etching and engraving, 1754
The William A. Whitaker Foundation Art Fund, 81.23.1
Many of Chardin’s paintings were reproduced as prints in the eighteenth century. As The Household Accounts demonstrates, moralizing texts were often applied to reproductive prints in this period.
The verse at the bottom of this print translates as follows: “What a wonder! A woman has taken time from more flattering activities and devotes it to housekeeping. This simple picture of the old days is taken from nature and not from the customs of today.”
The verse functions as a commentary on the image and privileges a particular interpretation. The relationship between the suggested meaning and that implied by Chardin in his original painting is unclear. However, the juxtaposition of image and text in this print transforms the work by initiating a dialogue between the image and the text in its margin.
