A print portrays two men and four women listening as one man reads from a piece of paper.
Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College

A print portrays two men and four women in the center of a room. The two men stand on the left, one leaning over a chair while the other stands next to him and reads from a piece of paper. The four women are on the left, across from the two men. Two women are seated in chairs, while two stand behind them. Three of the four women wear black dresses. The room is made of large stones, a window behind the women is barred, and there are large chains hanging from the wall near the window.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2019.258
People
Jean Baptiste Joseph Delafosse, French (Paris 1721 - 1775 Paris)
After Louis Carrogis de Carmontelle, French (Paris 1717 - 1806 Paris)
Title
The Miserable Calas Family
Other Titles
Original Language Title: La malheureuse famille Calas
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1765
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/365276

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Etching and engraving on off-white antique laid paper
Technique
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 34.8 × 42.7 cm (13 11/16 × 16 13/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: in plate, lower left: L.C. De Carmontelle delineavit 1765.
  • inscription: in plate, lower right: Delafoße Sculpsit.
  • inscription: in plate, lower center: LA MALHEUREUSE FAMILLE CALAS. / La Mère, les deux Filles, avec Jeanne Viguiere, leur bonne Servante, le Fils et son ami, le jeune Lavayße / Qualibus in tenebris vitae quantifique periclis / Degitur hoc aevi quodcumque eft. Lucret-. / Avec Privilège du Roi.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Galerie Paul Prouté, Paris] sold; to Harvard Art Museums, 2019

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
IFF, vol VI, no. 55, p. 207

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Acquisition Fund for Prints
Accession Year
2019
Object Number
2019.258
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Edouard Kopp, Elizabeth M. Rudy, and Kristel Smentek, ed., Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), pp. 294-296, repr. p. 295 as fig. 1

Exhibition History

Related Objects

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu