L'Escalier (The Curving Stair)

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin

1778–79 · Black chalk, pen and black and brown ink, watercolor, and touches of gouache, on off-white laid paper · Drawings and Prints

Admired for his impromptu sketches of daily life in Paris, Saint-Aubin produced a lively and insightful record of ancien-régime France. This charming vignette captures an elegant young woman, accompanied by a small boy and a dog, as she lifts the hem of her skirt and prepares to ascend a curving stone stair to a sunlit park.

Artist

Gabriel de Saint-Aubin

Date

1778–79

Medium

Black chalk, pen and black and brown ink, watercolor, and touches of gouache, on off-white laid paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, 2004