First Lesson of Love

Artist Jacques Philippe Levilly (French, active about 1792)

Dateabout 1792

Mediumcolor etcing and stipple engraving

Dimensionsplate: 27.1 × 21.6 cm (10 11/16 × 8 1/2 in.)
sheet: 34.2 × 25.3 cm (13 7/16 × 9 15/16 in.)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Hall James Peterson

Object number1982.45

Label TextThis print offers an example of the popular and affordable boudoir prints available at the turn of the nineteenth century. Unsuspecting in posture and setting, First Lesson in Love, appears at first as an innocent flirtation between a young couple. However, this image is laced with a secondary bawdy reading. The shepherd’s staff and the dark, curly-coated dog humorously allude to the man and woman’s respective private parts.

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