Self-Portrait, ca. 1778–80
Jean-Étienne Liotard (Swiss, 1702–1789)
Roulette, engraving, over mezzotint (proof before letters); Plate: 19 x 15 3/4 in. (48.3 x 40 cm)
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.98.1)
Technical Glossary
Jean-Étienne Liotard (Swiss, 1702–1789)
Roulette, engraving, over mezzotint (proof before letters); Plate: 19 x 15 3/4 in. (48.3 x 40 cm)
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949 (49.98.1)
The Swiss pastellist, painter, printmaker, and writer Jean-Étienne Liotard prepared this engaging self-portrait after a pastel he had exhibited in London's Royal Academy in 1773. Liotard—known as "the Turkish painter" for the distinctive dress that he adopted following an extended sojourn in Constantinople (modern Istanbul)—added unusual textures to the surface of this print's rouletted ground using a variety of small-gauged rockers.
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