Le Billet doux

1778

Nicolas Delaunay after Nicolas Lavreince

Associated Names
Nicolas Delaunay

Artist, French, 1739 - 1792

Nicolas Lavreince

Artist After, Swedish, 1737 - 1807

The image features three individuals positioned centrally within the composition, shown from head to toe. The central figure is a man standing between two seated women. The man appears to lean towards the woman on the left, who is seated in an ornate high-backed chair and holding a letter or paper. She is elegantly dressed in a lace or embroidered gown with a headpiece or hat, styled hair, and focused on the paper. The man wears an 18th-century formal suit with a long coat, waistcoat, stockings, and buckled shoes, complemented by a tied-back hairstyle. The woman on the right is seated with her feet raised on a box, wearing a layered dress with intricate detailing and a feathered elaborate hairstyle. The setting is a richly adorned room with ornate pillars, archway, detailed moldings and carvings, upholstered furniture, books on a table, and a musical instrument like a cello. The walls showcase classical motifs and a medallion portrait above the figures, reflecting an atmosphere of elegance and opulence typical of 18th-century interiors.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    etching and engraving

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Accession Number

    1942.9.2398

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Portalis/Beraldi 1880, no. 23


Artwork history & notes

Bibliography

1880

  • Portalis, baron Roger and Henri Beraldi. Les graveurs du dix-huitieme siecle. 2 parts, 3 vols. each part. Paris, 1880.

1987

  • Taylor, Sean J. "Pendants and Commercial Ploys: Formal and Informal Relationships in the Work of Nicolas Delaunay." Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschicte 50, no 4(1987): 509-538.

Wikidata ID

Q64960757

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