Le Carquois épuisé [The Empty Quiver], after Pierre Antoine Baudouin

The title is a double entendre referring to both the empty quiver in the hands of the sculpture of Cupid that stands behind the fair lady and takes aim at the young hero, and the young man’s physical condition. He is shown disarmed explicitly by his exhausted posture and figuratively with the sword on the ground. The glowing maiden is obviously pleased with her conquest, as she peeks with her mirror at her victim in his post-coital state. The little dog that leaps toward the young woman is a well-known symbol of carnal love, while the fire burning in the hearth matches the passionate affair that the lovers enjoyed. Such a witty and elegant interpretation of courtship, even very specific sexual behavior, is characteristic of eighteenth-century French art. De Launay was a printmaker who executed a wide variety of subjects; however, he is best known for his etchings after such galante subjects by Fragonard and Baudouin.