Les sept péchés capitaux (The Seven Deadly Sins) is Series 98 of the La Librairie de L’estampe colour postcard sets, first published in 1917 and on sale throughout the 1920s. For postcard sets that were issued in envelopes of six or seven cards, the commercially convenient number of fatal sins was perfect for a Meunier commission.

Of course for the postcard market the publisher was looking for light-hearted interpretations of the heptarchy of pride, greed, wrath, envy, lust, gluttony and sloth, and this is exactly what Suzanne provided, each overseen by the quasi-judgemental head of Pierrot just to underline that what the young women are doing might err toward the reprehensible.

To balance the upbeat version offered by the postcards, we also offer you a version of Les sept péchés capitaux by the German painter Otto Dix from 1933, when Europe was about to enter a very dark phase in its history.