Le Citoyen Aubourg, Mme Aubourg, et leur famille (Citizen Aubourg, Madame Aubourg, and their Family)

A diplomat and administrator during the Napoleonic period, Vivant Denon was also a prolific printmaker. Here, he used drypoint to execute a number of sketches across the plate. The composition is both personal and whimsical with Denon’s friend, Aubourg seen in profile at lower right, bent over and examining a statuette in his hand. His wife is shown half-length at lower left, knitting. In the upper register, profile portraits of other friends or family members are playfully arranged; one has his eyes obscured by the brim of his neighbor’s hat, while another appears from behind someone’s shoulder.The profiles of two dogs and a cat are arrayed in regal recession just above Mme Aubourg’s cap, and a bird perches on the top hat at upper center.


The use of sketch plates, where different studies were combined on a single plate, as if it were a page in a sketch book, gained in popularity in the second half of the 18th century, among both artists and amateurs.

Perrin Stein, February 2018