592. Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806),

French, The Inspiration, c. 1769. Oil on canvas,

80 x 64 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris. Rococo.

 

 

Jean Honoré Fragonard

(1732 Grasse – 1806 Paris)

 

Fragonard closes, with a burst of fireworks, the curve of the eighteenth century opened by Watteau with his fairy poems of love and melancholy. Watteau was ethereal and profound; Fragonard was merely light. He amuses us while amusing himself; he is never moved. He painted mainly fêtes galantes in Rococo style. Pupil of François Boucher, Fragonard also studied under Chardin. Always remembering Boucher’s advice, he depicted romantic gardens, with their fountains, grottos, temples and terraces where one can also recognise the influence of Tiepolo. With King Louis XV as a patron he turned himself towards the depiction of the pleasure-loving and licentious court, scenes of love and voluptuousness.