About Jean-Honoré Fragonard:
French painter, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, typified the Rococo style in his paintings and is considered to be one of the few artists synonymous with the period.
He was a prolific painter, creating more than 500 paintings in his lifetime. When he wasn’t painting portraits, he focused primarily on leisurely outdoor scenes, illustrating the figure’s sweet dispositions with flirtatious smiles and knowing eyes.
Fragonard is most famous for the Rococo masterpiece, The Swing, a playful and provocative illustration of the piece’s patron and his mistress. The Swing portrayed the shift to secularism in an array of pastels—a shift which is likewise endorsed through the resurgence of Roman mythology in Fragonard’s The Birth of Venus.
Fragonard's most recognizable painting of the Rococo Movement "The Swing"
The Swing, also sometimes called The Happy Accidents of The Swing, is a Rococo painting by Jean-Honore Fragonard. It is intended to be light-hearted and fun as it depicts people in a care free moment on a swing in the garden. Interestingly, while today's audiences would likely see riding on a swing as a wholesome activity, centuries ago it was considered to be a bit of a risque activity as clothing would move in the breeze giving glimpses of a lady's ankle. In fact, this painting was commissioned by an aristocrat who wanted a painting of himself looking up his mistress's skirt.
Family of Saint John the Baptist
Fragonard Exploring Rome
In 1756, Fragonard embarked on a four-year journey to Rome, immersing himself in the rich artistic and cultural heritage of the city. By April 1761, he set off for the village of Eternelle in the company of the Abbe de Saint Non, marking the beginning of a new chapter in his artistic pursuits.
On the 7th of July 1761, and departed on the eighth. There in the palace of the Duke he copied in drawing a painting of the Family of Saint John the Baptist believed to be excuted by Titian. However closer examination Polidoro Lanzani. See conservator of Louvre. Catalogue Summary of the Louvre, Italy and Spain 1981 p.220.
Fragonard and the Abbe de Saint Non arrived in Modena, a pivotal moment in their journey. The village's beauty and charm likely left a lasting impression on the artist, fueling his passion for capturing the essence of his surroundings through his art.
Fragoard did not copy the painting into a drawing in its entirety, but rather reduced the background trees and mountains to fit in the composition to be later used as a model for the , hence the annotation at the lower left of the page.
