Ne Suis-je pas a plaindre d'avoir epousé un cocu?
(Am I not to be pitied for having married a cuckold?)
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A woman in a parti-coloured costume, the right side blue-green and the left red, stands facing forward. Her head is turned towards the right and she extends her left hand, palm open, in this direction in a gesture of address to the similarly attired figure on the opposite page.
The woman’s outfit is composed of a round-necked corseted bodice that flares out at the waist and a full skirt, trimmed in black and with a floral motif at its centre. The flower is divided by a black line running down the middle of the two garments, marking the division in their colours. Her bodice is round-necked and has a flared, fan-shaped collar in white and frilly cuffs. Ribbons following a reversed colour scheme decorate the front of the bodice, the blue-green on the left, the red on the right. A necklace from which a single star hangs, encircles her neck. She wears a hat with an upturned brim and a tall crown. Two plumes unfurl to the right of the crown.
Curatorial commentary
- This figure makes a pair with the individual depicted on the facing page (675.179). Both are dressed in the same bi-coloured style, and the figures make reference to each other. The woman’s regret at marrying a cuckold is combined with a gesture referring to the facing page on which a possible husband is shown. The sentiment expressed is a curious one, since the woman herself must have made her husband a cuckold of her own volition. Perhaps the figure opposite is the lover rather than the husband.
- This drawing is in Style A, attributed to the principal author of the “Livre de Caricatures”, Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin. Style A displays a childish and naïve aesthetic and sometimes subject matter, and is characterised by crispness of execution, clear outlines and smooth application of colour. It is dominant in the early part of the book, from 675.3 to around 675.160. The opening inscription (675.1a) claims that the book was acquired from booksellers on the Paris quays in 1740 already containing drawings in another hand. The inscription states that ‘my friends put captions [underneath the drawings] and got me to continue this miscellany of follies’ (“mes amis y mirent des légendes et m’engagerent à continuer ce melange de folies”). This may be a tall story, explicable by Charles-Germain’s reluctance to admit authorship of the work. Charles-Germain was a versatile artist, and the possibility that he was responsible for the entire process in these initial drawings cannot be ruled out. In the drawings in the book not in Style A, Charles-Germain first made graphite sketches in much the same way. However it is possible that on the sections of the book dominated by Style A, Charles-Germain confined himself to working up existing graphite drawings, as well as adding details and also, with his friends’ assistance as he describes, the captions.
Dimensions (mm) / weight (mg)
187 x 132
Inscriptions
Ne Suis-je pas a plaindre d'avoir epousé un cocu?
Inscription
Inscribed by Charles-Germain de Saint-Aubin, below image, in ink
178
Pagination
Top left corner, in ink
Translation of inscription
Am I not to be pitied for having married a cuckold?
Underdrawing
Pentimenti, around woman's feet, in graphite; her feet were once positioned to the left of their current location.
Language
French
Part of
- Livre de Caricatures tant bonnes que mauvaises. 675.1-389
Collection
- Waddesdon (National Trust)
- Bequest of James de Rothschild, 1957