Letter A 1755 - 1768

Clément Pierre Marillier created this print called ‘Letter A’ using etching around the late 18th century. It depicts the letter "A" fashioned from ears of wheat and adorned with flowers, and topped with a crown made of wheat. In 18th-century France, art was deeply intertwined with social and political meanings. Floral motifs were common in decorative arts, symbolizing beauty, luxury, and often, aristocratic refinement. Wheat, on the other hand, represents prosperity, harvest, and the bounty of the land, but also, the peasantry. In this context, this print might speak to the values of the French aristocracy as well as the centrality of the peasantry in the production of goods. To truly understand this print, one can dig into the archives of the decorative arts, looking for how images and symbols took on particular political meanings. The key is to understand that meaning in art is neither natural nor inevitable, but historically contingent.