La confiance des belles âmes
1777
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
1777
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
This print shows four people in fancy 18th-century clothes gathered outside a grand building. A woman in a flowing dress stands near the center, while two men—one holding her hand—talk with her. A servant loads a wagon nearby, and a small dog sits in the grass. The scene looks like a quiet moment in a wealthy neighborhood, with trees and a stone wall in the background. The artist used fine lines to capture the textures of the clothes and the building’s details. This kind of printmaking is called *etching*, where the artist scratches the design onto a metal plate. Look up etching, drypoint, aquatint to see how it works.
