JEAN-BAPTISTE LE PRINCE

THE THREE BATHERS

JEAN-BAPTISTE LE PRINCE
Metz 1734 – 1781 Saint-Denis-du-Port

Paper, etching and aquatint printed in brown ink, under glass.
15.5 x 25 cm / 6.1 x 9.8 in, with frame 32 x 41 cm / 12.6 x 16.1 inches

PROVENANCE
France, private collection

In the mid-18th century, France witnessed a significant technical innovation that had a profound impact on the development of printmaking and the dissemination of French painting. This was the emergence of the aquatint technique—a complex, labor-intensive, and health-risking process demanding not only intense concentration from the artist but also a refined sensitivity to the material. Aquatint allowed for the rendering of tonal gradations and painterly depth unattainable by traditional line etching, thereby making the print more expressive and closely akin to painting.
One of the earliest masters to employ aquatint was Abbot Richard de Saint-Non, who in 1766 produced a series of aquatints based on the works of François Boucher. These works served as an important impetus for the popularization of the technique and demonstrated that Boucher’s paintings were known not only as black-and-white engravings but also acquired a distinctive pictorial and emotional depth in aquatint.
The aquatint in our collection is attributed to Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (1734–1781), a French painter, draughtsman, and master etcher associated with the Rococo style. Born in Metz, Le Prince relocated to Paris in 1750, where he quickly established himself through genre scenes and pastoral compositions that reflected the influence of his mentors, François Boucher and Joseph-Marie Vien.
In 1758, he accepted an invitation from Count Shuvalov to work in Russia, where he spent five years at the newly founded Academy of Arts. During this period, Le Prince traveled extensively, creating detailed studies of Russian people, costumes, and customs. Returning to Paris in 1763, he was admitted as a full member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in 1765. His oeuvre includes notable works such as the series Russian Christening and The Cradle, alongside cartoons for the tapestry series Russian Games, all of which document eighteenth-century Russian life with remarkable precision.
Le Prince is also credited with pioneering the lavis technique, which involved applying an acid wash with a brush to achieve tonal gradations reminiscent of watercolor washes. Combined with aquatint, this innovation significantly enhanced the subtlety with which light and shadow could be rendered in prints.
The aquatint presented here is based on a painting by François Boucher, recorded in the collection of the Comte de Lauraguais during the 1770s. The 1772 sale catalogue describes the work as a “landscape with a cottage, before whose door stands a man seemingly trying not to be seen, watching three bathers, one of whom bends down to catch geese in the water.” It is plausible that Le Prince had access to this painting while in Paris, enabling him to produce an aquatint that faithfully captures the original’s painterly qualities.
This work holds a distinctive place in Le Prince’s career, representing his first sophisticated application of the aquatint technique, which would later become a hallmark of his prints focusing on Russian subjects.
Thus, this aquatint exemplifies the high level of technical mastery and artistic exchange characteristic of the Rococo period, when tradition and innovation were closely intertwined.