Art Institute of Chicago

Lithography Lesson

Dominique-Vivant Denon

Date

1819

Medium

Lithograph on off-white wove paper

Culture

France

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

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.

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