With the benefit of hindsight, the shadow of the French revolution hangs over all these Fragonard pictures and the rest of those paintings in the same “fete galantes” genre, by artists such as Francois Boucher and Jean-Antoine Watteau.
Where did the Fragonard’s The Swing come from?
This oil painting known as The Swing was created by the French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard sometime during 1767 and 1768. A gentleman of the court reportedly requested the painter represent his mistress being pushed on a swing as he secretly admired her from below.
What is the meaning of the painting The Swing?
The Swing depicts a young man – concealed in the foliage – who is watching a young woman on a swing. (At the time, a swing was a conventional symbol for infidelity.) She is being pushed by an elderly man in the background who has no idea of the young man’s presence.
Why is The Swing by Fragonard important?
Its hedonistic subject and obsessive detail make it an icon of Rococo style and a continual source ofcreative inspiration and visual enjoyment. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. Baron Louis-Guillaume Baillet de Saint-Julien commissioned The Swing from Fragonard with salacious intentions.
What is a fête galante topic?
Fête galante (French pronunciation: [fɛːt ɡalɑ̃t]) (courtship party) is a category of painting specially created by the French Academy in 1717 to describe Antoine Watteau’s (1684–1721) variations on the theme of the fête champêtre, which featured figures in ball dress or masquerade costumes disporting themselves
What is a Rococo element in this work?
Rococo style is characterized by elaborate ornamentation, asymmetrical values, pastel color palette, and curved or serpentine lines. Rococo art works often depict themes of love, classical myths, youth, and playfulness.
What is Fragonard known for?
Fragonard has been bracketed with Watteau as one of the two great poetic painters of the 18th century in France. A prodigiously active artist, he produced more than 550 paintings, several thousand drawings (although many hundreds are known to be lost), and 35 etchings.
Where did Fragonard paint The Swing?
One of his best-known artworks and a masterpiece that encapsulated the Rococo frenzy is Fragonard’s The Swing from 1767. Also originally called The Happy Accidents of the Swing, or in French Les Hasards heureux de l’escarpolette, it can be found at The Wallace Collection in London.
What inspired Jean-Honoré Fragonard?
Inspired by such landscapists active in Italy as Hubert Robert (French, 1733 – 1808) and Claude-Joseph Vernet (French, 1714 – 1789) and by the patronage of the Abbé de Saint-Non (1727–1791), an accomplished amateur and avid collector, Fragonard developed an interest in landscape painting and drawing that would remain
Why was Honorard Fragonard important?
The work of the French painter Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) constitutes the final expression of the rococo style. He was famous for the fluid grace and sensuous charm of his paintings and for the virtuosity of his technique.
What does the dog represent in The Swing?
The dog, which is traditionally a motif of faithfulness, barks in the direction of the lady’s flirtations to give warning, but the old husband doesn’t hear. Additionally, the two putti statues look in the direction of Cupid, who has raised his finger to his lips to hush them while the amorous game goes on.
What was the Rococo period?
Rococo, style in interior design, the decorative arts, painting, architecture, and sculpture that originated in Paris in the early 18th century but was soon adopted throughout France and later in other countries, principally Germany and Austria.
What is Fragonard style?
A serious student of the masters, Fragonard combined classical study in France and Italy with love of the portraiture of the Dutch Baroque, and created his own style of lush, lighthearted eroticism that came to define the late Rococo.
Who created Fetes Galantes?
Fête galante is a French term used to describe a type of painting which first came to prominence with Antoine Watteau, whose reception piece at the Academy of 1717, ‘The Embarkation for the Island of Cythera’, was described as representing ‘une fête galante’.
What does a painting of a fête galante depict?
Although the paintings reveal a subtle sensuousness, the pastoral setting emphasizes the essential innocence and spontaneity of the participants, who are unfettered by the conventions of formal society. Fête galante paintings continued to be produced by Watteau’s pupils Nicolas Lancret and Jean-Baptiste Pater.
What does Rococo mean in art?
Rococo (/rəˈkoʊkoʊ/, also US: /ˌroʊkəˈkoʊ/), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colors, sculpted molding, and trompe-l’œil frescoes to create surprise and the
