Is this a reproduction or is it possible that this might be an original etching? The image measures 9.25" by 12.25". I ask only because I cannot see the pixel dots from printing.
Your pictures are fuzzy, but it looks like a repro to me--the text directly under the image (where the the artist's signature & title often are, but are illegible in the photos) look printed, not handwritten. The large title text looks printed as on a repro, and I see no sign of embossment from the plate. Clearer photos might yield more info. Might be a fine or even a historical reproduction. I cannot read it clearly but the bottom line of text may be the business where it was printed. It looks to me like "A Paris chez Bennet rue St. Jacques...[illegible but likely more about the location]" (At Paris at the house Bennet [on the] rue St Jacques ["St. James Street"]). Someone familiar with 18th cen & later Parisian printers might be able to identify the print house Bennett, especially if you can sharpen the photo so all the words can be read. Evidently, the very historical street of St Jacques housed the first and many subsequent printers in Paris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rue_Saint-Jacques,_Paris). https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Le-Dejeuner/700251B8B30C2BAB shows this image as a pen and ink drawing sold in 2019. https://www.jonquet.com/en/lot/1498...iste-huet-le-dejeuner-le-diner-le-gouter-and? shows the same image & presumably same text (tiny pic) as one of a "suite of four engravings. In gilded frames (minor wear). 29x22.5 cm." Your Dejeuner looks in better condition. Jonquet's appears to have a large [water?] stain across the lower left (viewer's left/print's right). Aha! Eureka! This appears to be the original: https://www.artcurial.com/en/sales/3949/lots/21-a Watercolor over pen and brown ink. Signed and dated J.B. hüet 1787 in the lower right. In a carved and gilded wooden frame with faux marble decoration adorned with a pediment cartouche, French work from the Louis XVI period. [Sold for €3900.] Comment: Engraver: By Louis-Martin Bonnet (sic) [actually, Louis-Marin Bonnet], under the title "Le Déjeuné" (sic) [for Le Déjeunér, The Luncheon], part of a series of four with "Snack," "Dinner," and "Supper." About the artist: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Huet (Jean-Baptiste Marie Huet (French pronunciation:[ʒɑ̃batistmaʁiɥɛ]; Paris, 15 October 1745 – Paris, 27 January 1811) was a French painter, engraver and designer associated with pastoral and genre scenes of animals in the Rococo manner, influenced by François Boucher.") About the engraver, Louis-Marin Bonnet (1736-1793): https://www.google.com/search?q=Lou...CCLACAfEFlJpVvazkIho&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 https://www.askart.com/artist/Louis_Marin_Bonnet/11089937/Louis_Marin_Bonnet.aspx#:~:text=Louis Marin Bonnet,-Auction RecordsLots&text=Louis Marin Bonnet (1736 - 1793,as Boucher, Huet or Lagrenée. "The painter and engraver Louis-Marin Bonnet was ... one of the best known engravers of the 18th century Paris. He is well recorded for his polychrome prints in chalk and pastel manner, reproducing works by famous masters such as Boucher, Huet or Lagrenée." The ArtCurial website & a bit of goggling seems to provide the answers: The original was a watercolor over pen and brown ink by Jean-Baptiste Huet, reproduced with colored engravings by Louis-Marin Bonnet (not Bennet, as I read it or "-Martin," as ArtCurial spelled it.) as part of a series of four meals. Your picture is likely one of those 18th century reproductive engravings. Congratulations! But I still would like to see better photos of your engraving, especially the text below the image. All of the website images were too small to read that. Please forgive my loquacity. I recorded my original opinon and the web search as I found each bit of new information. I thought that might be of interest to a few art historical obsessives (like myself). Of course, had I been an 18th century rococo specialist I might have recognized Bonnet and his method of reproductive engraving from the beginning. But I am not, so I had to take the long way around. (Actually, a much shortened "long way" thanks to the internet.)
Iconodule, Thank you for all of the documentation, what a gift. Tomorrow, I will try to get better pictures. Artcurial - J. B. Huet's signature is on the lower righthand corner of the image. There are no engraving notations. Jonquet - matches mine. No Huet signature and the notations below the image. Last night I did try to do some searching but doubted that it was a later copy of the etching. I now realize that some of the colors in my print and on the etchings differ. The border is too white, no aging. I really appreciate the time you spent trying to help me. Sue
An engraving would have embossing from the edges of the plate. Look for that. A photographic reproduction would have a flat surface.
Here's another from The Met https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/714188 Compare the paper size (note that the Met says its sheet has been trimmed) Also notice that what is written under the title on The Met print looks to be different from what is on yours. Given a date in the late 19th C, it might be a steel engraving produced for a book or illustrated magazine of the period. The plates for such prints could move around and be re-struck by various publishers. What was written under the title could be changed to suit the needs of whoever was publishing it. Clear close-ups will help to clarify. If there is any dot matrix, it will show up in a colored section. Early reproduction methods were good with lines, but not so good with tonal gradations.
The colors seem to be different. The trees look blue on the Met Engraving, on mine the trees are definitely green.
The colors were probably applied by hand, so there are bound to be variations. Also there are various factors that can change how colors look over time. To say nothing of variations in photos. What does it say under the title on yours?
MOS Mine says a paris chez bonnet rue st jacques au coin de celle de la parcheminerie. Translation - In Paris, at Bonnet, on rue St Jacques, at the corner of rue de la Parcheminerie. Met says A Paris chez Bonnet rue du Platre St Jacques NO. 12 Translation -in Paris at Bonnet, Rue du Plâtre, St. Jacques No. 12 you are correct about the difference.
