French engraving — Le Prince, Jean-Baptiste

Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (1734 – 1781). French painter and engraver-aquafortist, inventor of Lavis engraving. He received his art education in Paris, a favorite student of Francois Boucher. In 1758 he left for Russia. In St. Petersburg, he painted several paintings commissioned by Empress Catherine II and participated in the painting of plafonds and doors in the Winter Palace that was under construction at that time. During his 4 years in Russia, he traveled to the Baltic states, Moscow and Siberia, having completed many drawings and sketches there, on the basis of which, upon returning to Paris in 1762, he created a number of paintings and engravings depicting Russian types, types and everyday scenes. He engraved a large number of his drawings in the aquatint technique or in a special lavis technique invented by him.