During the Rococo period, French artists frequently depicted children, sometimes at play and spontaneous in their gestures and expressions, but also engaged in study, their education the foundation for the future of society. In 1766, Saint-Aubin, a draftsman and chronicler of Parisian cultural life, drew a portrait of his niece and nephew in profile. Based on preparatory studies made after life, this finished drawing presents the children as well educated and well behaved, with the restraint and self-confidence of adults. Rose, seated at right, holds a hurdy-gurdy, a musical instrument popular in the eighteenth century.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Germain-Augustin and Rose de Saint-Aubin, Drawn by Their Uncle
Artist:Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (French, Paris 1724–1780 Paris)
Date:1766
Medium:Gray wash over black chalk and graphite.
Dimensions:7 3/16 x 4 13/16 in. (18.2 x 12.2 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Accession Number:1972.118.233
Inscription: In graphite at lower margin: G. de St aubin et Rose de St aubin dessinés par leur oncle gabriel [This same inscription is repeated in pen and brown ink by another hand at lower margin of old mount] Inscribed faintly in graphite at upper margin in artist's hand: augustin de St aubin 1766 janvier [?]
Pierre Nicolas Ransonnette (French), Ransonnette sale, Paris, Feb. 21-23, 1878, lot 20.; Hippolyte-Alexandre-Gabriel-Walter Destailleur (French)Destailleur sale, Paris, May 26-27, 1893, lot 112, 2 (not sold); Destailleur sale , Paris, May 19-23, 1896, lot 852.; J. Bouillon (according to Dacier); Walter Burns (according to Schiff sale catalogue); Mortimer L. Schiff , Schiff sale, London, Christie's, June 24, 1938, lot 51.; Wildenstein & Co., Inc.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Walter C. Baker Collection of Drawings," June 2–September 4, 1960.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," February 26–May 5, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Eighteenth-Century French Drawings in New York Collections," February 3–April 25, 1999.
The Frick Collection. "Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780)," October 30, 2007–January 27, 2008.
Musée du Louvre. "Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780)," February 27, 2008–May 26, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," August 8–November 20, 2017.
Bean and Turcic 1986.274, Dacier 1929-31.238
Edmond de Goncourt L'art du dix-huitième siècle. 2 vols., 3rd edition. Paris, 1880–1882, I: pp. 426-427.
Emile Dacier Gabriel de Saint-Aubin: Peintre, dessinateur et graveur (1724-1780). 2 vols., Paris and Brussels, 1929-1931, cat. no. II: 238, I: 84; II: 44.
Wildenstein & Co., Inc. Timeless Master Drawings.. New York, Nov-Dec 1955, p. 102.
Claus Virch Master Drawings in the Collection of Walter C. Baker. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1962, cat. no. 77, p. 45, ill.
Jacob Bean "Curatorial Reports and Departmental Accessions: Drawings." In Annual Report of the Trustees of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, July 1, 1979 - June 30, 1980. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, no. 110, New York, 1980, p. 27.
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 15th-18th Century French Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, cat. no. 274, p. 242, ill.
Hildegard Bauereisen Correspondances: Festschrift für Margret Stuffmann zum 24. November 1996. Edited by Martin Sonnabend, Mainz, 24 November 1996, p. 129, ill.
Perrin Stein, Mary Tavener Holmes Eighteenth-Century French Drawings in New York Collections Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1999, cat. no. 51, pp. 116-117, ill.
Pierre Rosenberg Le Livre des Saint-Aubin. Paris, 2002, fig. no. 17, pp. 56-57, ill.
Kim de Beaumont, Colin B. Bailey, Perrin Stein, Suzanne Folds McCullagh, Christophe Leribault, Pierre Rosenberg, Marie-Catherine Sahut Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1724-1780. Exh. cat. Frick Collection, New York, Oct. 30, 2007-Jan. 27, 2008, and at Musée du Louvre, Paris, Feb. 28-May 26, 2008. New York, 2007, cat. no. 3, pp. 114-115, ill.
Louis-Antoine Prat Le Dessin Français au XVIIIe siècle. Paris, 2017, fig. no. 851, 425-27, ill.
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
