Courtship 

Enrico Nardi created “Courtship,” a watercolor painting, sometime between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This artwork seems to transport us to a bygone era of elaborate social rituals, perhaps reminiscent of the French Rococo period. Nardi’s choice of subject invites us to reflect on the performance of gender and class in courtship. The women, adorned in extravagant dresses and hats, and the men, with their powdered wigs and formal attire, engage in a carefully choreographed dance of flirtation and social maneuvering. The fan becomes a tool of communication, and the garden setting, a stage for social display. The painting may seem like a romanticized depiction of love, but it also reveals the power dynamics inherent in courtship. The women's expressions, hidden behind fans and coy glances, leave us wondering about their desires and agency within the constraints of their social roles. "Courtship" gently encourages us to reflect on the complexities of love, power, and identity, and how they intersect in the theater of social life.