Dance in the Country (La danse á la Campagne)

Description

This print relates to two paintings of 1883 (Boston, Museum of Fine Arts; Durand-Ruel collection), both of which show a man and woman dancing at Bougival. Easily accessible from Paris, this nearby suburban village to the west of the city drew the working class, who went there for leisure activities on Sundays and vacations.As in this print, Renior sometimes employed the delicate soft-ground etching process to emulate a crayon or soft pencil drawing. This technique was extremely popular in the 18th century, but rarely practiced by Renior's contemporaries. After a nonhardening varnish is applied to the copper plate, a sheet of paper is placed atop the plate. Once the drawing is made, the paper is removed, taking with it the ground that has adhered to the paper where the crayon or pencil has marked it. The copper plate is placed in an acid bath, which bits into the uncovered portions of the metal. Once the ground is removed and the plate inked and wiped to leave ink only in the etched lines, a dampened sheet of paper is placed on the plate and both are pulled through a roller press. Renior's print reproduced not only the marks of the drawing implement but also the wire-marks of the laid paper.