The Clogs, Nicolas Lavreince, Etching Circa 1770

The Clogs
Nicolas Lavreince
Jacques Couché
Etching
Around 1770

The Clogs
Dedicated to Monsieur le Comte de Pons Saint Maurice
Knight of the king's orders and lieutenant general of his armies.
Paris chez J. Couché Graveur rue Hyacinthe n°51
By his very humble and very obedient servant
Engraved by J. Couché

Similar copies in the collections of the Louvre
and the Art Institute Chicago.

Dim: 34 x 26 cm
Dim frame: 47 x 38 cm

Niklas Lafrensen (Stockholm, 1737-1807)
Niklas dit Nicolas Lavreince, Lawreince or Lavrince miniaturist painter and watercolorist son of Niklas Lagrensen of whom he was also the student. On the death of his father in 1756, the young artist who had miniatures decided to seek his fortune by traveling. He lived in Paris and resided there for three years before visiting Germany and returning to Stockholm.
He achieved real success there as a history painter, watercolourist and especially as a portrait painter. The memory of Paris undoubtedly haunted him, because he was back in 1771. The works of Watteau de Lille, those of Baudoin struck him and allowed him to find the form in which he was to find so much brilliant success. His watercolours of crisp subjects found engravers like Delaunay, Janinet, Debucourt and Couché to popularize them.
In 1773 he was recalled to Stockholm, was named a member of the Academy and painter to the king. These honours did not prevent him from returning to Paris in 1774 and extending his stay there until 1791. This was his most brilliant period. The agitation that preceded the Revolution brought him back to Sweden, where he completed the series of compositions on the history of Sweden that he had begun before 1771.

Jacques Couché (1759-?)
A pupil of Levasseur and Aliamet, engraver in the office of the Duke of Orléans in Paris between 1784 and 1808. His works include Jeune Martyre, Sainte Famille and Vues pittoresques, Animaux. He was a member of the Académie de Saint-Luc. He produced copper engravings for the Voyage à Naples et en Sicile by the Abbé de Saint-Non and for the Voyage de Pallas dans la Russie méridionale 1788-1793, as well as sheets after Fauvel, Fragonard, Lavreince and Chardin. He also published a collection of landscapes engraved in the manner of pencil in 1802.

Ref: AB2Y8P2L2B