A Satirical Image against Jean-Baptiste Greuze: Celebrity, Printmaking, and the Public Woman

This article analyzes an anonymous satirical image against the French genre painter Jean-Baptiste Greuze. This image acts as a diagram to advance an argument for the decline of Greuze’s reputation. In particular, it suggests that Greuze’s wife, Anne-Gabrielle Babuty, catalyzed this decline by encouraging Greuze to succumb to greed and to employ illegitimate and speculative publishing practices in the production of reproductive engravings. Through an analysis of the ways in which celebrity, the public woman, and print commerce intersect, this article demonstrates the value of integrating graphic satire into our study of celebrity culture and the art world.