Bearded Man Spying on Lovers Under an Arbor

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

The satirist Johann Heinrich Ramberg produced several oval etchings with voyeuristic themes, including an equally silly pendant to this print in which the man in the tree remains unobserved by the lovers, despite his extremely precarious position. The oval framework of these works suggests that the prints may have been meant as decoration for furniture or perhaps were intended to be pasted onto a support and used as fans.

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