The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 20, 2024
The Milk Woman
1774
(French, 1736–1793)
Image: 28.3 x 23.3 cm (11 1/8 x 9 3/16 in.); Sheet: 32.3 x 25.1 cm (12 11/16 x 9 7/8 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Hérold 295
Location: not on view
Description
In his quest to emulate fashionable drawings for display, Bonnet developed a method for printing gold frames. After preparing the paper with printed layers of lead white and a red adhesive compound called a mordant, Bonnet hand-applied gold leaf, on top of which he printed ornamental patterns. Because French regulations restricted the use of gold to certain artisans, like furniture builders, Bonnet disguised these prints as English imports. He sold them from a shop called Au Magasin Anglois (From the English Shop) and even advertised the fictional name “Le. Marin” as the foreign inventor of the printed frames. For English-speakers, however, the odd spelling “ta-King” in the inscription for The Woman Taking Coffee betrays Bonnet.- Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
- {{cite web|title=The Milk Woman|url=false|author=Louis-Marin Bonnet|year=1774|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2003.50