At Least be Discreet

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This portrait and its companion print Depend on My Promises (1926.918) are likely based on sketches of Augustin de Saint-Aubin and his wife in their youth. The prints depict two fashionable young lovers murmuring sweet nothings to each other as daybreak brings their tryst to an end. The figures lean toward each other in their respective oval frames as if to break the barrier separating them before parting. The prints are deliciously ambiguous, for the young man may or may not intend to keep the affair secret. Indeed, the tiny cupids in cameos beneath each frame suggest a less positive interpretation: hers laments that love is blind; while his has plucked a rose, rejoicing in his triumph over virtue.

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