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WITH GOLDEN KEYS, EVERY DOOR OPENS – A proverbial phrase alluding to the power of money, capable of overcoming any barrier, even moral ones.
Hand-colored etching by Giovanni Battista Piattoli (1747–1808), a Florentine engraver active in the second half of the 18th century.
This work belongs to a renowned series of moralizing prints, rich in irony and social satire, where art becomes narrative, admonition, and a mirror of bourgeois society in the Age of Enlightenment.
The scene takes place in an elegant 18th-century interior: refined boiseries, draperies, and theatrically posed figures set the stage. A finely dressed young man, in yellow attire and tricorne hat, offers a purse to a young woman who receives it with visible consent, while an older woman—likely a procuress—watches approvingly. The composition, gestures, and gazes leave little doubt: what we witness is a transaction of seduction, orchestrated under the influence of money.
Original period print, etched with aquaforte technique and burin retouching, hand-colored. Signed in the plate lower left “Piattoli inv.” (invenit, confirming Piattoli as the originator of the composition), and numbered upper right (XXVIII).
Original contemporary coloring. Framed in solid wood, with mat and protective glass.
Verse inscribed below:
With golden keys, every door opens
Even innocence, though cloaked in modesty,
Yields to the charms of the corner maiden
Ah, how innocence is bartered away,
While the greedy lover lusts for honor.
This work is part of the so-called “conversation prints,” designed for the bourgeois market and meant to be read, displayed, and commented upon in parlors and drawing rooms.
Condition:
Good. The print is intact, with well-preserved coloring and clearly legible inscriptions. Minor foxing scattered on the paper, consistent with its age, does not affect the readability or overall visual appeal of the piece.
- Material: Print on paper
- Size: cm 35 x 43,5 h
- Condition: Restored
- Period: Ultimo quarto del '700
- Style: Neoclassical
- State: Good conditions
