An illustration

This is one of a series of seven etchings commissioned by Abbot Valète de Travessac in 1748 for the second edition of his Sonnets sur les Antiquités de la ville de Nismes. They replaced the coarse burin engravings used in the first edition. In the etching process, the metal plate is not gouged directly with a tool but indirectly in an acid bath. The artist first draws on a plate coated with an acid-resistant ground; this gives a more cursive line than that made with a burin.

A contemporary text

Read the sonnet about the Maison Carrée by Abbot Valète.