This girl is sleeping almost naked against an ochre background. Her thin nightgown leaves little to guess and exposes her belly and breasts, leaving a tit uncovered. Next to the model lies a lapdog.
This painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1759, under the influence of the gallant, erotic painting tradition of the French Rococo. Diagonally arranged on sumptuous curtains, the woman is depicted in a translucent white garment. Her left shoulder, chest and leg are visible. A red ribbon is woven through her hair, while her dog, traditionally called a Punzenlecker (pussy licker or fanny licker) in vulgar German, is held by a blue ribbon. A golden ring adorns her left hand. The primary colours - red, blue and yellow (gold) - stand for love, fidelity and eternity. In combination with the wavy blue ribbon in front of the woman's cross, and her fingers connected right in her lap, the composition is charged with eroticism. We can guess at the nature of the desire of the woman who sleeps so peacefully. The gaze of the spectator explores the female body exposed to him and is only waited for by the austere, unrelenting gaze of the dog, which unmasks him like a voyeur.
Jean-Baptiste-Henri Deshays of Deshayes (1729, Colleville, near Rouen, France - February 10, 1765) was a French painter of religious and mythological subjects.
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