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Grace and Gallantry - French Coloured Engravings of the Rococo
Presented by the Kupferstichkabinett in the Gemäldegalerie

09.07.2013 to 06.10.2013
Gemäldegalerie

In the Renaissance, printmaking was an art form primarily in black-and-white. Although there was some degree of experimentation with colour reproduction techniques, they failed to have a lasting impact. Only much later, in the second half of the 18th century did technological innovations create the right preconditions for printmaking with colours. Invented in 1757, the 'crayon manner’ or stippled engraving allowed drawings by contemporary artists to be reproduced in print and rendered with astonishing exactness, not only in terms of colour, but also in terms of the artist’s markings: the lush tone of the chalk, the powdery abrasion of the material and the dotted impression on the surface of the paper. Engravers in stipple produced faithful reproductions of pastels, wash drawings in pen and ink, and watercolours. Over the course of 20 years, the reproduction technique reached such a degree of technical perfection that such 'facsimiles’ are able to deceive the eye even now. This small, one-room show traces the adventure in experimentation with new techniques of coloured printing in the 18th century. Boucher’s drawings are juxtaposed with etched reproductions and the most beautiful coloured engravings in the 'crayon manner’, taken from the Kupferstichkabinett’s holdings. The works include five of the famous 'English prints’ by Louis-Marin Bonnet presented in imitation gold frames. The works sparkle with famous and popular themes and motifs of the French Rococo: elegant ladies, genre scenes, and pastoral scenes.

Matthäikirchplatz
10785 Berlin

wheelchair accessible

U-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz
S-Bahn: Potsdamer Platz
Bus: Potsdamer Brücke, Potsdamer Platz Bhf / Voßstraße, Kulturforum, Philharmonie

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Tue 10:00 - 18:00
Wed 10:00 - 18:00
Thu 10:00 - 18:00
Fri 10:00 - 18:00
Sat 10:00 - 18:00

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