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Femme de lettres

Maker

(artist)
1860-1942

(etcher)
1860-1942

Carfax and Co. (publisher)

Title

Femme de lettres

Date of Production

1915

Medium

Etching

Dimensions

Height: 15.1 cm
Width: 18.2 cm

Accession Number

G.1935.SC.41

Mode of Acquisition

Samuel Courtauld, gift, 1935

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords







Label Text

This work’s title is particularly ambiguous. The suggestion that the female depicted is an highbrow and respectable ‘Woman of Letters’ is undercut by the sexual liaison she appears to be having with the older man upon whose lap she sits. The title could be interpreted as a reference to ‘French Letters’; slang for a contraceptive. The work’s satirical character betrays Sickert’s long standing admiration for English caricature, especially William Hogarth (1697-1764) and the illustrator Charles Keene (1823-1891).

Provenance

Information not yet known or updated

Exhibition History

Special Display - Works by Sickert, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 05/10/2007-20/01/2008

Inscriptions

Inscription: inscribed : signed in ink : recto & lower right : : Sickert

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