Theatre Scene (recto)
1770
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin was a French draftsman, printmaker, etcher and painter.
See the richer artist page1770
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Theatre Scene (recto) is a 1770 by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a busy theater crowd—actors on stage, fancy-dressed people chatting, even someone selling snacks in the aisle. Saint-Aubin drew this fast, like a quick note. He filled both sides of the paper with different scenes, almost like doodling. The lines are loose, but you can still feel the energy of the night. If you like this, look up *impasto*—a technique where paint is thickly layered to create texture.
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin was known for his distinctively sketchy style and interest in depicting performances such as dance and theater, the subjects seen here. The artist developed a distinctive composite style of sketching, and this work exemplifies his practice of covering both sides of a sheet of paper with diverse images in varying media.
Because of Gabriel de Saint-Aubin’s focus on social events and contemporary culture, his drawings are considered important records of eighteenth-century Parisian life.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Gabriel de Saint-Aubin was a French draftsman, printmaker, etcher and painter.
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