A young man piercing the ear of a young girl seated on the knees of a woman, another bringing an earring

Charlotte Gere pointed out that the subject of this drawing is a girl having her ears pierced. The man piercing the ear has previously sterilized his instrument with the flame of the candle on the mantlepiece, while the woman is holding the girl tight during the painful moment. Ear-piercing in the 18th Century symbolized the loss of innocence and the birth of vanity, represented by the statuette of the Vestal Virgin on the table to the left. Another famous treatment of the subject is in David Wilkie's The First Earring of 1835 in the Tate Gallery, London.