"La Vertu chancelante" signée par le peintre

Etching and engraving after Jean-Baptiste Greuze, entitled La Vertu Chancelante, dated 1776, bearing the signature of the artist and engraver on the verso. The engraving is executed by Jean-Massard (1740-1822) and printed under the care of C. Beauvais.
The plate mark has been trimmed. Marginal tears and small lack in upper section. Traces of restoration on verso of corners.
Fine engraving by Jean Massard after a work by Jean-Baptiste Greuze. Most of Greuze's major works were engraved under his supervision and care and published by himself, in his lodgings on rue Thibotaudé. Jean Massard was one of these appointed "translators." Greuze being concerned with the sale of his engravings, each proof had to be signed on the verso by himself and his engraver Massard, as is the case for this impression (the British Museum copy also bears the signatures of the painter and engraver).
An epitomic composition of Greuze's moralizing paintings, a young woman in an ample dress sits on a chair in a humble attic room, a watch in her hand, waiting for her lover. To the right, a letter, flowers and a basket rest on a table.
The original painting of this delightful genre scene is today in the collection of the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (HUW 3).

Bibliography: Le Blanc, 1854, 91
Smith 1837, 84.