Plate 27: Doña Rodriguez, who is speaking at night with Don Quixote, is surprised by the ladies of the Duchess (La Dame Rodrigue, s'entretenant de nuit avec Don Quichotte, est suprise par les Demoiselles de las Duchesse) 1745

Bernard Picart created this print, Plate 27: Doña Rodriguez, using engraving techniques. The work engages with Miguel de Cervantes's novel "Don Quixote," a widely read book that became entrenched in the popular imagination of 18th-century Europe. This particular scene depicts an episode of social satire, in which Don Quixote's idealism leads to misadventures. The print offers a commentary on class and gender. We see Doña Rodriguez caught in a clandestine meeting, disrupted by the Duchess's ladies, highlighting social hierarchies and gender expectations. It is a critique of the aristocracy and their treatment of those deemed beneath them. To fully understand Picart's work, one must look to the social history of the time. Publications of this kind, and indeed the novel itself, are valuable primary sources for understanding the hierarchies of the 1700s.