The Four Continents (1790): Art, History and Details

The Four Continents (1790) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Christophe Philippe Oberkampf (French, 1738–1815); Jean-Baptiste Marie Hüet (French, 1745–1811).

The work and its context

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

Inspired by printed cottons from India, European manufacturers began printing textiles from copper plates in the 1750s. Originating in Ireland, the technique quickly spread to France where it flourished. Here, Jean-Baptiste Marie Huet I depicted female personifications of the four continents alongside their native flora and fauna. Although the artist based the plants and animals on real specimens observed at the Royal Botanical Gardens, he derived the personifications from racist stereotypes that imagined Europe as culturally superior: while Europe sits enthroned with symbols of the arts and knowledge at her feet, Africa wears an elephant headdress, America hunts an alligator, and Asia prays to a false god.

Object facts

• Title: The Four Continents
• Date: 1790
• Creator attribution: Christophe Philippe Oberkampf (French, 1738–1815); Jean-Baptiste Marie Hüet (French, 1745–1811)
• Culture: France
• Type: Textile
• Technique: Cotton: copperplate printed
• Dimensions: Overall: 112.1 x 81.3 cm (44 1/8 x 32 in.)
• Collection: Textiles
• Department: Textiles
• Accession number: 1929.6

A detail from the museum

Marie-Antoinette visited the textile factory where this design was made.

Collection credit

Gift of Gregor Norman Humphreys

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.