Cleveland Museum of Art

Inventor of Greek Figures, Plate 10

Benigno Bossi

Date

1771

Medium

etching with stipple and engraving

Culture

Italy, 18th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Poking fun at the vogue for classical antiquities that gripped Enlightenment Europe, French architect Ennemond Alexandre Petitot portrayed himself as an elaborately dressed Greek statue in a drawing on which this print is likely based. The popularization of classical elements and motifs in fine and decorative arts during this period was known as the goût grec , or "Greek taste." Revered for its perceived simplicity and grandeur, ancient Greek art was believed to reflect the physical health and moral character of that civilization. Here reproduced by engraver Benigno Bossi, Petitot’s design whimsically parodies the artist and his time, transforming the elegance and sobriety of classical Greece into the excess and extravagance of the 1700s. Ennemond Alexandre Petitot was an architect and stage designer who often incorporated classicized elements into his designs.

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