Zeenimf op dolfijn, twee tortelduiven in de lucht 1732 - 1776

Gilles Demarteau created this print of a nymph on a dolphin, with two turtledoves in the air, using the crayon manner technique, a style of engraving that imitates the appearance of a chalk or crayon drawing. Prints like these were immensely popular in 18th-century France. They catered to the Rococo taste for lighthearted, sensual imagery, often drawing on classical mythology. But the rise of printmaking was also tied to the emergence of a new kind of art market. Artists like Demarteau weren't just creating for aristocratic patrons; they were producing for a wider public, eager to consume images of beauty and refinement. The inscription tells us this print was part of a series, ‘Du Porte-feuille de M. Nera’, published in Paris. The series would have been sold as a collection and it suggests a growing commercialisation of art. Through careful attention to these material details, we can reconstruct the complex social and economic forces that shaped artistic production in the 18th century.