Art Institute of Chicago

Comptez sur mes Serments (Depend on my Promises)

Augustin de Saint-Aubin

Date: 1789
Medium: Etching and engraving on ivory laid paper
Culture: France
Department: Prints and Drawings
Institution: Art Institute of Chicago

This portrait and its companion print At Least Be Discreet (1926.919) 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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Object type: AAT300041273

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Art Institute of Chicago and other institutions.

Au Moins Soyez Discret (At Least be Discreet)

Art Institute of Chicago

Lingerie Boutique and Conversation (verso)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Emile Augier

Getty Museum

“- Sir, you who are so good, can't you get me small position?.... I am able to furnish you the best references on my honesty.... - You have always remained honest?... But in that case, my worthy man, why the devil have you come to me? You ought to know that I concentrate all my business and all my charities on this highly interesting class of freed convicts! Why don't you go and steal something or at least kill a bit... and once you are out of Toulon-prison, come and see me... I'll be delighted to offer you a helping hand!,” plate 19 from Les Philantropes Du Jour

Art Institute of Chicago