"The Marquise of Frivolty" from The Complete Works of Béranger 1836

J. J. Grandville created this print, "The Marquise of Frivolity", as an illustration for Béranger's collected works. The Marquise stands with hands clasped in a gesture of feigned innocence, a motif we see echoed across centuries. Consider the "pudica" pose in classical sculpture, where a figure modestly covers herself, or even Bernini’s Saint Bibiana; each conveys a complex interplay of virtue and vulnerability. Here, though, the gesture is laced with irony. It is a performative act, a facade of propriety masking, perhaps, something less virtuous. The Marquise’s elaborate hairstyle, so evocative of the period's excesses, further underscores this duplicity. In this context, we see how such gestures and symbols are never fixed. They resurface through history, each time colored by the nuances of a new age.