Artwork
Joconde: Le lit
Joconde: Le lit is an ink print by the Baroque artist Charles Louis Lingée. It dates from 1784 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Overview
Joconde: Le lit is an etching produced in 1784 by French printmaker Charles Louis Lingée. Executed on paper, the work measures a modest size typical of eighteenth‑century intaglio prints and presents a quiet interior scene rendered with careful line work and tonal shading.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows a bedroom populated by three women. The central figure sits on a bed draped with a white sheet, while the two companions stand nearby, one beside the bed and the other near a small table. Their long, flowing robes and neatly arranged hair suggest a genteel domestic setting, evoking a mood of calm intimacy.
Technique & Style
Lingée employed traditional copper‑plate etching, incising fine lines that capture the folds of fabric, the texture of the curtain, and the play of light across surfaces. Subtle cross‑hatching creates depth, allowing shadows to recede and highlights to emerge, which gives the scene a three‑dimensional quality uncommon in flat decorative prints of the period.
History & Provenance
Created toward the end of the Ancien Régime, the print reflects the neoclassical taste for orderly, refined interiors. It entered the collection of the Musée du Louvre under the catalogue name "Joconde: Le lit," where it remains documented as part of Lingée’s oeuvre of domestic genre scenes.
Artist & collection
