Fabulous Fables

La Fontaine’s Fables is one of the most ambitious, monumental book productions to emerge from eighteenth-century Paris. A celebration of French literature, engraving, and typography, it was not so much a book to read as one to collect for its artistic value. The Monkey and the Cat illustration was engraved by Louis Legrand (1723–1807) based upon the original Jean-Baptiste Oudry and Charles-Nicolas Cochin drawing (on the wall to your left). The composition, reversed through the engraving process, has a more detailed setting and intense play of light and shadow than the original, although the focus on the lively animals is diminished.