Note: This started as a reply to a comment of an earlier post ; since one can’t easily add formatting, pictures etc. in a comment, i decided to publish it in form of a post.
Nicolas (1739-1792) and his brother Robert (1754-1854) Delaunay (sometimes also referred to as De Launay) were both active as engravers/etchers in Paris. Nicolas, pupil of Louis-Simon Lempereur (1728-1808) and later entitled to Graveur du Roi (“Royal Engraver” of Louix XV), was one of the contributors of engravings to the 1773-83 edition of J. J. Rousseau’s Oeuvre Complètes (Complete Works) after designs of Jean Michel Moreau (also called Moreau le Jeune).
One of Nicolas Delaunays most popular compositions after Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) is Les hasards heureux de l’escarpolette (“The Happy Accidents of a Child’s Swing“). Artheque cites also La bonne mère as one of his “big” compositions.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted several versions of La Bonne Mère (“The good mother“). Emma Barker parker puts the painting in a “genre galant” context, combining “eroticism and domesticity in a distinctly comic fashion” [2]. The young woman, supposedly to watch over the two small children, seems distracted by the white cat and the boy pouring water to her right. She does not exhibit the complete absorption in her maternal duties expressed in scenes by Chardin for example. The title La bonne mère is not by Fragonard, this is a later addition by the engraver Nicolas Delaunay. The title was subsequently also used for the painting, emphasizing the domestic component of the composition.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The good mother, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, La bonne mère, around 1770, private collection, USA.
The print La bonne mère by is a combined etching and engraving, Delaunay created it in 1779 [1], during the same time he had published a series of engravings/etchings depicting domestic scenes and maternal duties. This series included five mirrored prints after compositions by Fragonard (including L’Heureuse fécondité, Dites-donc, s’il-vous-plait, Les baignets ) and Le Bonheur du ménage, after Jean-Baptiste Le Prince (1734-1781) [3] .
La bonne mère is dedicated to the fermier-général , Ménage de Pressigny (“dédiée à Monsieur de Pressigny Conseiller Fermier Generale de sa Majesté”), who had owned the painting (“Tire du Cabinet de M: Menage de Pressigny”), shown above, now in a private collection. It appears together with the mentioned Les hasards heuereux de l’escarpolette on a price list issued by the engraver [4]. Both prints were a huge success already at that time. In the case of La bonne mère, the prints seemed almost to surpass the popularity of the painting, or at least the watercolor drawing by Fragonard of the same scene, (exhibited in 1781), which was praised as depicting “a topic, well known by the nice engraving by M. de Launay” [5].
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[1] Emma Barker, Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment, 2005, p. 120.
[2] Emma Barker, Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment, 2005, p. 272, note 23.
[3] Jean Siméon Chardin 1699-1779: Werk, Herkunft, Wirkung, 1999, p. 415.
[4] Emma Barker, Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment, 2005, p. 133.
[5] Emma Barker, Greuze and the Painting of Sentiment, 2005, p. 274, note 54.
Oldprints 
I have an engraving of the Education of Madame Blondel be N.Delaunay. Does any one now anything about this. It is one of Fragonard’s
themes.
tengo el 5º grabado de la serie de grabados que hizo N Delaunay en 1779 “LE BONHEUR DU MENAGE”
I also have the print, on metal, of Fragonard’s “La Bonne Mere” by N Delaunay. I would like to know if anybody is aware of the price of such a print. I have others by other contemporary artists and would like to know thei insurance value.
Also i have a print on metal of “La Bonne Mere” and Le serment d´amour” of de Launay. Whats the price of one of this…..thx!
It would be interesting to find out the prices of the prints. I have others by different authors such as Sicardi, but don’t live anywhere near where they can assess them. Do you know of a possible web site? Thanx.
anche io ho 3 stampe di launay e vorrei sapere dove poter cercare sul web un sito dove capire quanto possono valere grazie fin da ora fabio
Good evening,
I live in a home built in 1774 in Wareham Ma,
I found a print on a wooden box cover labled The Good mother. It is a picture of a woman feeding a child in a old wikcer wheeled crib. There is another child, girl off to the right side. The scene looks to be outside but due to the condition it is difficuld to make out a lot.
Can you help me with this? I have been on line tryimhg to find this print with no luck.I have a few picktures that I can send if this helps.
Thank you
Bruce Allen
I have a print of ‘La Bonne Mere” with a crest, signed and was re framed in 1950 here in Memphis Tn. It is on cloth and is in excellent condition. The framing is numbered and documented. I would like to have it appraised, where would I go to have this done? Also it was held under a black light and shows no signs of retouch, or damage. It looks like a mirrored version of the picture hanging in the Boston Museum of Art.
I have a colored engraving of “La Mere de Famille” after the Fragonard painting. I am curious as to its value; can anyone point me to a website that could help?
I have a black & white engraving of Fragonard’s Girl in a Swing. Any ideas as to who might have engraved it and to its value?
Are there any inscriptions on the prints? Do you have any good photographs/scans of the print which might help identifying them?
I have old colored prints of La Bonne Mere and Le Panier renverse.
Do they have value?
I have a metal engraving of “La Mere de Famille” (Fragonard). How would I find its worth?