Part of a series of prints by the famous German artist Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726-1801) titled “Les Occupations des Dames” [The Occupations of Ladies], this image is titled “La Lecture” [Reading]. One woman belonging to the upper strata of society reads aloud from a text while others listen. Many socially elite women in the eighteenth century were literate, and they pursued intellectual interests both in groups and individually.