Cleveland Museum of Art

The Painter Jacques-Luc Barbier-Walbonne

Date

1804

Medium

aquatint, etching, and stipple

Culture

France, 19th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Aubertin masterfully combined aquatint and tooled stipple—two techniques used to create granular tone—to emulate the meticulous shading and velvety surface of Isabey’s original drawing. A close look at the print, especially in the areas of the shirt, the jacket, and its lapels, reveals the diverse variety of textures Aubertin achieved. When displayed in the 1804 salon, the print was titled The Little Smoker. This impression is printed on handmade “wove” paper, a modern, smoother kind of paper developed in England during the mid to late 1700s. Before taking up printmaking, François Aubertin had a career as a soldier.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.