La promenade du matin

The Morning Walk, engraved in 1774 by Charles-Louis Lingée after a composition by Sigmund Freudenberger, immerses us in the refined and subtly theatrical universe of 18th-century French society. In a garden, two elegantly dressed ladies pass by an abbot sitting next to a flower seller. Between them unfolds a small social comedy made of glances, seduction, and appearances, while a small dog discreetly enlivens the center of the composition. The scene takes on its full meaning in light of the text that originally accompanied the print: beneath modest exteriors, the abbot would have won the favor of the flower seller in order to contemplate the elegant ladies passing before him more closely. This detail transforms the walk into a true gallant scene, characteristic of this 18th-century society where costume, gesture, and gaze participate in a codified social language. Lingée captures with remarkable finesse Freudenberger's drawing. Lace, ribbons, headdresses, and fabrics are rendered through a delicate network of cuts and hatching, while the monumental tree, the architecture, and the slightly cloudy sky compose a deliberately sober backdrop around the figures. The precision of the line contrasts with the lightness of the subject and gives the whole work the elegance characteristic of French prints from the last decades of the Ancien Régime. The Morning Walk belongs to the Suite of prints serving the history of manners and costumes of the French in the eighteenth century, a remarkable ensemble dedicated to the representation of society, its fashions, and its customs. About the artists — Charles-Louis Lingée (1748–1819), French engraver, interprets here a composition by Sigmund Freudenberger (1745–1801), Swiss painter and draftsman particularly appreciated for his genre scenes and refined representations of the society of his time. The collaboration between the draftsman and the engraver is fully part of the rise, in Paris, of large suites of prints dedicated to manners and costumes in the second half of the 18th century. Museum reference — A copy of The Morning Walk is preserved at the Musée du Louvre, Department of Graphic Arts, Collection Edmond de Rothschild (inv. 6319 LR/Recto). The Louvre also holds various states of this composition, reflecting its development process. Technique: etching and burin. Creation of the plate: 1774. The exact age of the print presented here remains to be determined by examining the paper, any watermark, and the condition of the plate.