John Simon after Charles-Antoine Coypel

The Town Coquet
With well dissembled innocence she charms
Th' inamour'd swain, to her delusive arms:
Alluring smiles! Vons to be ever true,
And feigns a passion she's a stranger too;
Her subtle arts, his credulous heart deceives
Nor sees the falsehood which her hand receives.

10 x 13.5

A mezzotint droll engraved by John Simon after Coypel and published by Thomas Kitchen on Holborn Hill, London circa 1730.

This amusing vignette is set in an oval frame within a rectangular print with an explanatory verse underneath. The scene is a tale as old as time, the seduction of a gullible youth by a beguiling and beautiful woman. As our hapless fellow pours out his heart to the seductress a negro page secretively hands over what we assume to be money or an incriminating letter, presumably pickpocketed from the young man's coat. It looks to be a well-practiced deception that could occur in any bar, boarding house or brothel on any given night of the week.

Originally from France, John Simon (1675-1755) settled in London where he perfected the art of mezzotint engraving at a time when it was just becoming established as The English Method and the most acceptable way of reproducing portraiture in print.

£385