About this artwork
This portrait and its companion print Depend on My Promises (1926.918) 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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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Augustin de Saint-Aubin
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Title
- Au Moins Soyez Discret (At Least be Discreet)
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Place
- France (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1789
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Medium
- Etching and engraving on ivory laid paper
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Inscriptions
- Lettered, below image: "Aug. de St.Aubin defin et sculps.t.". Engraved in image, lower center: "il ne voit pas le precipice."
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Dimensions
- Image: 33.7 × 24.6 cm (13 5/16 × 9 11/16 in.); Plate: 36.5 × 26.4 cm (14 3/8 × 10 7/16 in.); Sheet: 42.6 × 31.8 cm (16 13/16 × 12 9/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- Gift of the Print and Drawing Club
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Reference Number
- 1926.919
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/30045/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
