Felicitations, or New Year’s Morning. Paired with the print Bouquets, or Grandmother’s Party. 1787. Coloured aquatint

The artist Louis-Philibert Debucourt detested high society and loved the middle class; he portrayed its goodness, harmony and homely values.
Here he has captured a heartfelt moment when a grandchild greets his grandfather on New Year’s morning. However, the child’s somewhat bashful attitude betrays the fact that visits to see the grandparents did not take place very often. Therefore, this is an even more important and formal event, and the entire family – mother, father and sister – are encouraging the boy.

Louis-Philibert Debucourt (1755–1832) was a genre painter and graphic artist in Paris, and one of the most important French masters of coloured aquatints in the 18th century.