C’est dans un de ces transports d’attendrissement que je dis à M. de Luxembourg en l’embrassant (I said this to M. de Luxembourg as I embraced him during a moment of tenderness), from J. J. Rousseau's "Confessions" 1790 - 1825

Charles Abraham Chasselat created this print, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century, illustrating a moment from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's "Confessions." It depicts Rousseau embracing the Maréchal de Luxembourg, a scene charged with social and emotional complexity. Consider the period: France, on the cusp of revolution. Rousseau's writings challenged the established social order, emphasizing individual feeling and natural virtue against aristocratic artifice. The "Confessions," published posthumously, were a sensation. But what does it mean to illustrate such a scene of intimacy between men in this context? Chasselat’s image invites us to consider the social codes of the time, the performance of masculinity, and the subversive potential of expressing affection across social divides. The print serves as a visual record of a literary and cultural phenomenon that shaped revolutionary sentiments. Understanding this image requires attention to the social history of emotion, the politics of sensibility, and the dissemination of Rousseau’s ideas through print culture. These can be explored further through resources like historical archives, literary criticism, and studies of visual culture.