Vrouw met een kind en twee meisjes die een hond laten poseren 1834

Frédéric Bouchot created this print titled 'Woman with a child and two girls letting a dog pose', location unknown. Bouchot lived through the tumult of post-revolutionary France and during the rise of the bourgeoisie. In the print, the domestic sphere becomes a stage where gender roles are subtly performed and negotiated. The woman and child represent traditional maternal bonds, while the two girls seem to be engaged in a more artistic pursuit, perhaps hinting at changing roles for women in society. The girls are training a dog to pose; notice how they are trying to make the dog fit into their expectations. Who are they really trying to train and who is watching from above? Bouchot captures a moment brimming with the quiet tensions of domestic life, mirroring the broader shifts in French society. The emotional resonance of the scene lies in its ability to evoke the intimacy and constraints of domesticity, leaving us to ponder the roles we play and the expectations we carry.