Saint-Aubin's celebrated pair of engravings of 1789, when Saint-Aubin and his wife were 53 and 47 years old respectively, is a tender depiction of the artist and his wife. Given the youthful appearance of the lovers it is almost certain that Saint-Aubin used earlier portrait sketches of 1764 as his models for the present works. As noted by Richard Campbell Regency to Empire French Printmaking 1715-1814, Baltimore and Minneapolis, 1985, pp. 283-6, no. 101) and Nicholas Stogdon, Catalogue VII, Oh happy state ...!, New York, no. 50) these engravings exist in several states and may indicate the artist pandering to the collecting fashions of the time.