Lacing machine

This etching, executed as an outline drawing, has two picture levels: in the upper part a lacing scene (Fig. 1) and below the depiction of a crying infant whose body is being fatally crushed (Fig. 2). The context of the sheet - presumably a book or magazine supplement - has not yet been clarified, nor is there any information regarding the artist, publisher or year of publication. Roman-antique hairstyles and chemise dresses with small puffed sleeves of the sitter suggest that the sheet was created in the early period of the French Empire. The upper part (Fig. 1) shows an old, ugly maid and a young, graceful maid extremely constricting their mistress by means of a lacing device. Since corsets were frowned upon in this era and narrow laced waists were irrelevant to the loosely falling empire dresses, there must be some other occasion. The clue seems to be illustrated in the lower part (Fig. 2): The drastic depiction of an infant being abused by means of a squeeze possibly demonstrates the effect of a popular method of terminating unwanted pregnancies. If one follows this assumption, the sheet could be read as a deterrent or denunciation of the consequences of sexual libertinage.