Karikatuur van een dame en heer die op de verkeerde datum op een feest arriveren 1839

Frédéric Bouchot created this caricature of a lady and gentleman arriving at a party on the wrong date sometime between 1798 and 1850. It is easy to imagine the embarrassment and social awkwardness that the couple must have felt. This engraving invites us to consider the social rituals and expectations of 19th-century bourgeois society, where one's value was often tied to their adherence to social norms. Bouchot uses exaggeration to emphasize the couple's blunder, pointing to the rigid structures of class and gender that governed social life. How might such social missteps impact one's social standing or personal relationships? This work serves as a reminder of the ways in which we are all subject to the sometimes absurd rules of our respective social worlds. The experience of arriving late—or early—is universal. However, the impact of that experience shifts depending on who you are.