Off to bed 

Léon François Comerre created this oil painting titled ‘Off to Bed’ at some point during his career. This work exemplifies the kind of art that was regularly shown in the French Salon system. It's meant to be titillating, but also refined, virtuous, and uplifting. The woman’s partially exposed state would have been seen as provocative but permissible through association with classical allegories of Venus. Comerre relies on established visual codes to construct a narrative that’s both sensual and safe. As historians, we might examine the exhibition records of the French Salon to understand how this painting would have been displayed and received by the public. What other kinds of images would it have been shown alongside? What sort of critical language would have been used to describe it? By understanding the institutional context, we can better grasp the meanings it held in its own time.