Apollon couronnant les arts (Apollo Crowining the Arts), from Recueil de Différentes Compositions Frises et Ornements dessinées et gravées à la manière du lavis par La Grenée le Juene Se trouve chez l'Auteur, au Louvre et chez Basan, rue et Hôtel Serpente A Paris, in an album containing Recueil de Compositions par Lagrenée Le Jeune (Collection of Compositions by Lagrenée the Younger) 1784

Curator: This is "Apollon couronnant les arts (Apollo Crowning the Arts)," a print by Jean Jacques Lagrenée, created around 1784. It's part of a larger collection. The Met houses it here in New York. Editor: What strikes me first is its almost monochromatic severity, but not unpleasing. There is Apollo on the right, poised, almost floating as he offers the crown. Curator: Absolutely, Lagrenée perfectly captures the Neoclassical style— the emphasis on line, the allegorical subject matter, the almost theatrical presentation. I find it interesting that he presents the Arts as both singular and plural as there are multiple women as the recipients of this gift. It's a testament to Apollo's generosity in overseeing all their endeavours. Editor: This type of print was made for dissemination; considering the number of lines, the different groupings of figures, what was it printed on? Curator: Given the date and Lagrenée's role, most likely on rag paper—a time when paper wasn't just paper, but carried a history of craft, and skilled labor. Paper that would then travel from Paris to collections such as these! There is the labor, skill, and economy tied up into an allegory of generosity and genius. Editor: It is interesting you use the word allegory. Perhaps this presentation gives visual form to intellectual concepts of that time. With its somewhat limited tone range—all sandy browns—it almost seems he is challenging ideas about the traditional hierarchies of the academies. What is 'High Art', 'Low Art' as well as craftsmanship if everything needs the hand of the tradesman? Curator: That's a truly interesting consideration, because Lagrenée—working at the Louvre, and engaging with these classical themes—is also inherently bound to notions of artistic hierarchy, yet he makes the medium so accessible. He is a part of the conversation but maybe in more complicated ways that we may think. What sort of a place did visual rhetoric and artistry have in everyday life? Editor: Indeed! Well, pondering that makes me want to go look more closely at those delicate lines now. Thank you! Curator: The pleasure's all mine, maybe some art awaits us too!