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It’s very odd – my wife was supposed to dine at Madame Coquardeau’s but only the children were there
(C'est bien drôle que ma femme devait diner chez Maman Coquardeau et que ne j'y trouve que les petits.....c'est bien drôle!)
(1841)
from the Fourberies des femmes (The deceit of women) series, 2nd series
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1930
- Gallery location
- Not on display
About this work
In his popular satirical series The Deceit of Women, Paul Gavarni depicts various acts of trickery committed by women against men. In this print, a husband discovers that his wife has surreptitiously abandoned her motherly duties, leaving their children in the care of another woman while she enjoys a night of freedom. While the series could be read as critical of women, it also subtly questions the rigidity of mid nineteenth–century gender roles. Gavarni highlights the lengths women had to go to navigate their restrictive social circumstances and ridicules men for their obliviousness to these deceptions.
Artwork Details
printed in ink u.r.: 45.
printed in ink l.l.: C'est bien drôle que ma femme devait diner chez Maman Coquardeau et que ne j'y / trouve que les petits.....c'est bien drôle!
printed in ink l.c.: Par Gavarni
printed in ink l.r.: Imp. d'Aubert, & C.ie
Felton Bequest, 1930
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of the Joe White Bequest