The Amusement of a Shepherd Girl 1744 - 1760

Marie Madeleine Igonet created this print, The Amusement of a Shepherd Girl, using etching. It’s a great example of how even a modest artwork can be deeply embedded in its time. Consider the technique: etching is an indirect printmaking process. The plate would have been carefully coated, and the image scratched into the surface with a needle. The plate is then submerged in acid, which bites into the exposed lines. Ink is applied, the surface wiped clean, and the image printed onto paper. It’s a labour intensive process, requiring great skill. Now, what about the subject? The shepherd girl is shown in a moment of leisure, making a flower crown; even her sheep seems relaxed. This evokes the pastoral fantasies that were so fashionable among the French elite, who loved to imagine the simplicity of rural life, even as they benefited from the labor of peasants. Igonet’s print isn’t just a pretty picture, it's also a window into a society grappling with its own contradictions.