Artwork
Les Échasses
Les Échasses is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Louis-Marin Bonnet. It dates from 1790 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Louis‑Marin Bonnet’s color stipple engraving — titled Les Échasses and dated circa 1790 — depicts a quiet garden scene rendered on laid paper. The composition centers on two children: a boy in a brown coat and cream trousers extending an object to a girl in a plain white dress accented with a blue sash. A modest cart laden with flowers rests nearby, while foliage frames the background.
Subject & Meaning
The work captures a moment of informal exchange between the youngsters, suggesting themes of play and social interaction.
The work captures a moment of informal exchange between the youngsters, suggesting themes of play and social interaction. The title, translating to “The Stilts,” hints at a whimsical or clumsy activity, perhaps implying the boy’s use of crutches or makeshift stilts, though such devices are not overtly shown. This ambiguity invites viewers to consider the fleeting, childlike gesture as the focal narrative.
Technique & Style
Executed in color stipple engraving, Bonnet employed a series of fine dots to build tonal variation and subtle shading, a method that allows delicate gradations on laid paper. The stippling technique, combined with careful line work, renders textures of clothing, foliage, and the cart’s flowers, achieving a nuanced, almost photographic quality within the constraints of early printmaking.
History & Provenance
Created around the turn of the French Revolutionary period, Les Échasses reflects the era’s interest in genre scenes that portray everyday life. While specific ownership records are scarce, the print is catalogued among Bonnet’s oeuvre of modestly scaled, decorative prints that circulated among middle‑class collectors in late‑eighteenth‑century France.
Artist & collection
