I don't know enough about the complete oeuvre of Romain de Tirtoff, better known as Erté (from the French pronunciation of his initials) to say whether he did much by way of gay-themed illustration, or perhaps these are the only ones. They accompany a brilliant piece of literary fun by Lytton Strachey called Erymntrude and Esmeralda in which two young society girls write letters to each other as they resolve to find out all there is to know about 'making-love' and to share all their discoveries with each other. The three illustrations here come from an episode in which Esmeralda discovers her brother is having an affair with his tutor: "Do you think - my dear, do you think it's possible for them to be in love? I'm almost sure they must be, but then if they are, I can't understand at all, because how can they have babies?"
