Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse Du Barry, and her servant Zamor

Prints and Drawings

1771

Jean-Baptiste-André Gautier D’Agoty
French, 1740-1786

The artists of the Gautier D’Agosty family experimented with several approaches to color printing. In the attempt to make what they called “printed paintings”, they sometimes even varnished their final results. This aquatint is not only printed in full color from multiple plates, but the lace bordering Madam du Barry’s negligée has been deeply embossed in a painterly impasto manner. The accompanying poem suggest fawningly that this royal mistress in her boudoir is indistinguishable from Venus, the goddess of love.

Status: On loan to Newberry Library in Chicago for Seeing Race Before Race
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Jean Baptiste André Gautier d'Agoty
Title: Jeanne Bécu, Comtesse Du Barry, and her servant Zamor
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: Made 1771
Medium: Color aquatint, hand applied opaque white and embossing on laid paper
Dimensions: Plate: 39.9 × 31.2 cm (15 3/4 × 12 5/16 in.); Sheet: 44.7 × 33.6 cm (17 5/8 × 13 1/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Charles Netcher
Reference Number: 1928.592
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