Bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée 1815 - 1835

Sébastien Coeuré created this print, "Good Reputation is Worth More Than a Gilded Belt," referencing a French proverb. This phrase speaks to the values of 19th-century French society, a period marked by both revolutionary upheaval and bourgeois consolidation. Coeuré critiques the moral ambivalence of post-revolutionary France, where appearances often masked underlying corruption. We see two couples; on the left, a woman in a large bonnet is escorted into a private room. On the right, another woman holds hands with a gentleman who seems to be warning the viewer about the indiscretions of the other couple. The print subtly interrogates the era's social hierarchy and gender dynamics, hinting at how women's reputations were commodified and instrumentalized. It suggests that virtue, though ostensibly valued, was often a performance dictated by societal expectations and class interests. Coeuré invites us to reflect on the emotional and ethical tensions of a society grappling with shifting moral codes, where the pursuit of status and wealth often overshadowed genuine integrity.