Design for a Frieze with a Love Scene
Wood engraving with a design for a decorative frieze with a love scene, made up of a male-female couple dressed in draped garments sitting on a park bench. The man, sitting on the left side of the bench, holds a bundle with flowers, which he offers to the woman, on the right side of the bench, while she poses her hand on his, while throwing her hat off her side of the bench. Next to her is a small column, with two loving doves standing on it, and on the left of rests a semi-abstract harp with a semi-abstract pomegranate (?) motif in front of it. A playful cupid is seen crawling and jumping to point an arrow towards them on the left side of the design. On the right, past the loving doves, is a young boy, whose body is half-covered by a rich bundle of flowers, and who plays with the doves while holding what looks like a flaming torch on his other hand. Next to him grows a tree with thin, long branches with leaves, which undulate across the entire scene. The frieze is bordered above by a horizontal strip with small arrow and bow motifs, and below by a horizontal strip with interlacing, oval rings formed around small rosettes, and joined by tiny, round pearls. From the reaparition of motifs at the ends of the engraving can be seen that the scene was meant to be repeated as many times as needed to be included as part of a larger design.
Artwork Details
- Title: Design for a Frieze with a Love Scene
- Artist: Félix Leblanc (French, born Paris, 1823)
- Date: ca. 1880
- Medium: Wood engraving
- Dimensions: Sheet: 5 11/16 × 10 3/8 in. (14.5 × 26.3 cm)
- Classifications: Prints, Ornament & Architecture
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1919
- Object Number: 19.30.107
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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