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29. Louis Lafitte (1770-1828) An Amorous Couple Being Observed |
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(click on image to print)
An Amorous Couple Being Observed
Original drawing in pen and black ink and grey wash on blue-green laid paper, ca. 1804-15, 198 x 142 mm., signed with initial. Meticulously finished drawing of a risqué subject, probably meant to be engraved, perhaps as a book illustration. The woman in bed is clearly older than her male companion and she wears a ring on the fourth finger of her right hand (which would be her left in the engraving). The couple is either being spied upon by the old woman or else, perhaps having arranged the assignation, she is keeping watch – or both. Lafitte was less a painter than he was a draughtsman (he was appointed Dessinateur du Cabinet du Roi by Louis XVIII in 1815) and many of his works were meant for book illustration while others were reproduced as lithographs.
