The pictorial in Terrasse à Rome by Pascal Quignard

This book will plunge you into the world of art in all its splendor, of which engraving is the main activity around which abound many attractive representations and figures. Based on Terrasse à Rome, a novel with a scholarly structure (whose plot features a young apprentice engraver in love with a young girl already engaged in Bruges), the two lovebirds will maintain a most fantastical idyll until the implacable reality takes them out of their reverie. Indeed, in the middle of a sexual romp, the cuckolded fiancé throws some etchings (acid) in his rival's face out of jealousy. The young fiancée, Nanni, has become horrified and brutally puts an end to a love that was blossoming out of caution and pure disinterest. He will later become a confirmed virtuoso in engraving) This book combs through the processes of engraving in the black manner, in etching and in intaglio with the help of engraving accessories. It reveals itself as a mise en abyme of all the pictorial figures while immersing the reader in an art exhibition museum.