A Party Picnicking Near a Village (c. 1760–70): Art, History and Details

A Party Picnicking Near a Village (c. 1760–70) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe (French, 1716–1794).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe was known for drawings such as this one, which were executed on a small scale with exacting detail. His designs attracted the attention of the French monarchy, and he received numerous royal commissions. This work shows well-dressed figures enjoying outdoor leisure in a rural village. Its panoramic landscape and dense crowd were both characteristic of Van Blarenberghe’s miniaturist style.

Object facts

• Title: A Party Picnicking Near a Village
• Date: c. 1760–70
• Creator attribution: Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe (French, 1716–1794)
• Culture: France
• Type: Drawing
• Technique: gouache on antique laid paper
• Dimensions: Sheet: 12.2 x 16.8 cm (4 13/16 x 6 5/8 in.)
• Collection: DR - French
• Department: Drawings
• Accession number: 2019.63

A detail from the museum

Louis Nicolas van Blarenberghe was from a family of painters; among them he was known as “the great Blarenberghe.”

Collection credit

Bequest of Muriel Butkin

Further reading listed by the museum

• Christie, Manson & Woods. Fine Old Master Drawings. 1975.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.