Types

Types

Info

Social satire and Moralizing messages

Moralizing messages: topics about virtue and vices used through social settings rather than biblical (affairs, gambling, etc...) Social Satire: Satirical critics of society, institutions, and social class (irony, exaggeration, parody, ridicule)

Analysis

A woman's back faces the audience, obstructing her face from view, but someone had been painting her portrait. In front of her sits a man, presumably a husband, who holds a palette with one hand and a paintbrush in another. In the doorway is another woman who is wearing the same earring as in the portrait of the woman and seems to have same facial expression, but not the same hairstyle. Above the man and woman in the center of the room is a cupid light that seemingly shines a spotlight on the woman in the center of the room while the woman in the doorway stands with a longing expression and defeated body language.