Johann Heinrich Ramberg
German, 1763-1840
The Lovers
INV-1495
Johann Heinrich Ramberg
German, 1763-18401799
lithographprint
Date
1799
Medium
Pen lithograph in brown on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 44.4 × 56.2 cm (17 1/2 × 22 3/16 in.); Sheet: 49 × 60.3 cm (19 5/16 × 23 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Johann Heinrich Ramberg studied history painting with Benjamin West in London from 1781 to 1788, but he found livelier inspiration in the English caricature tradition of William Hogarth and Thomas Rowlandson. On his return to Germany, he made his reputation by designing a classical curtain for a theater in his native Hannover, though he was more successful as a satirist and book illustrator. The Lovers, which is historicizing in its broad scale, slyly adds humor, romance, and a fairy-tale ambiance to Ramberg’s favorite theme: voyeurism. The postcoital pair, snug in their idyllic curtained bower, doze on, oblivious to the arrival of curious family members and pets.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Lauda-Conatum: Exposition au Salon du Louvre en 1787 (The Exhibition at the Salon du Louvre in 1787)
Pietro Antoni Martini (Italian, 1738-1797) after Johann Heinrich Ramberg (German, 1763-1840)
Unobserved Man Spying on Reclining Lovers
Johann Heinrich Ramberg German, 1763-1840
Bearded Man Spying on Lovers Under an Arbor
Johann Heinrich Ramberg German, 1763-1840
