Piano's met draperieën c. 1885 - 1895

Léon Laroche produced this print, entitled 'Pianos met draperieën', as part of a series called 'Le Garde-Meuble'. The series title tells us that these prints were made as part of a service for the French upper classes, showing them how to decorate their homes and care for their furniture. In this image, we see two pianos draped with elaborate covers. This was a period of relative stability after the turbulence of the French revolution, and the rising middle classes were eager to imitate the fashions of the aristocracy. The print reproduces the textures of the drapes using a printing technique called pochoir, a kind of stenciling that was popular in France at the time. The image indexes the status and the conservative taste of its intended audience. To understand images like this, art historians might consult archives of interior design, studies of fashion and consumer culture, and social histories of the French middle class. These all help us understand the context that made this image meaningful at the time.