Naakte vrouw leunend tegen boom 1744 - 1781

Jean Baptist Leprince made this print called “Naked Woman Leaning Against a Tree” using etching in the 1700s. It is held at the Rijksmuseum. In eighteenth-century France, the Academy was the cornerstone of the art world. It dictated what was considered good taste, who got commissions, and ultimately, which artists would be remembered. Leprince here plays with these conventions, using the visual codes of classical mythology and the female nude to produce this striking image. Leprince was trained at the Academy, and he won several prizes throughout his artistic career. However, this engraving does not seem to be for public display. Instead, it seems more likely to be a private, even erotic, image. To understand it better, we can look at the social context of the time, including the French court, with all its intrigues and scandals. We might look at how women were represented in art and literature. We can always use such resources to interpret art as something that is contingent on social context.