After Daniel Chodowiecki

After DANIEL CHODOWIECKI (1726-1801).
Untitled.
Etching.
Signed.
Measurements: 17.5 x 22 cm; 32.5 x 37 cm (frame).
Daniel Niklaus Chodowiecki was a German painter and engraver of Huguenot and Polish descent, famous mainly as an engraver. He spent most of his life in Berlin, where he became director of the Academy of Art. He became the most famous German graphic artist of his time. His works include several thousand etchings, usually quite small, and numerous drawings and paintings. His book illustrations cover almost all the great classics. His engravings depict in great detail the life of the bourgeoisie during the Zopfstil period, an era between Rococo and Classicism. Most of his work consisted of illustrating scientific books by Basedow, Buffon, Lavater, Pestalozzi and others. He also painted many portraits of the Polish nobility and was interested in Huguenot and Polish history, producing some paintings on these subjects. He was in tune with the developing spirit of the time, and many works reflect the cult of sensibility, and then the German revolutionary and nationalist sentiments of the turn of the century.