Soir (Evening) c. 1780s

This print called Soir, or Evening, was made by Nicolas-François Regnault in France sometime in the late eighteenth century. It shows a young couple in an intimate embrace while an older woman reads nearby. But what story is really being told here? The setting and the figures' clothing tell us that the scene is not aristocratic, but neither is it impoverished. It depicts a comfortable domestic life in which the pleasures of love and family are sanctioned by social ritual. We can imagine the young man and woman as newlyweds and the old woman as a mother or grandmother reading to them from the Bible as the day comes to an end. What is most interesting about this image is how it elevates the daily life of the bourgeoisie to the realm of the sentimental. Many archival sources can help us understand this work better. In the history of art, the most important thing to remember is that cultural and institutional settings always play a role in determining the meanings of art.