Artwork
Les heures du jour
Les heures du jour is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Jean-François Janinet. It dates from 1783 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Jean‑François Janinet’s print Les heures du jour, executed in 1783, presents a quartet of intimate domestic moments. Each vignette is enclosed within a circular border, resembling a seal, and rendered in a restrained palette of pale blues, whites and muted earth tones. The work invites the viewer to pause on the quiet rhythms of everyday life in the late eighteenth century.
Subject & Meaning
The composition depicts four women engaged in ordinary activities: one shelters herself with an umbrella outdoors, another strums a guitar, a third writes beside a window, and two converse over a small table. By isolating these modest scenes, Janinet emphasizes the constancy of daily routines and the subtle social interactions that structure private life.
Technique & Style
Janinet combined traditional line etching with aquatint, allowing him to achieve soft, velvety washes of colour alongside precise outlines. The aquatint areas produce the delicate tonal transitions that give the scenes their atmospheric quality, while the etched lines define the figures and objects within each circular frame.
History & Provenance
Created in 1783, Les heures du jour belongs to the later period of Janinet’s career, when he explored genre subjects in print form. The work circulated among collectors of French prints in the years following its production, though specific ownership records remain limited. It exemplifies the artist’s interest in portraying contemporary life through the medium of print.
Artist & collection
