Le Billet Doux

by Nicolas after Nicolas Lavreince De Launay

$750 · Offered by Donald A. Heald Rare Books

A wonderful depiction of pre-revolutionary Parisian aristocracy by de Launay after a gouache by Nicolas Lavreince. A perfectly dressed, handsome young man suavely hands off a love letter to his perfectly dressed young sweetheart while he distracts the older woman: mother or aunt who chaperones. It is a wonderful moment that speaks volumes about aristocratic life prior to the revolution. What seems at first a charming and witty deceit also implies a world in which the pursuit

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