Jean-Honoré Fragonard: July 21st, 2012

21 Saturday Jul 2012

Tags

Encyclopædia Britannica, François Boucher, Le Monde diplomatique, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Monde, National Gallery of Art, National Post, New York Times

La Lettre d’amour by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1770

The Love Letter is housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY and

La Liseuse (Young Woman Reading), in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

(for photo credit, please click on the names given the paintings)

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (5 April 1732 – 22 August 1806). Today, the news are the main content of my post. However, above and to your right, there are paintings by Fragonard and a video on Fragonard, at the bottom of the page.

Born in Grasse, in the Alpes-Maritimes where his father was a glover, Jean-Honoré first articled to a Paris notary when his father experienced financial difficulties. Jean-Honoré then apprenticed first with François Boucher who quickly gave him a different master: Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. He was extremely talented and won the Prix de Rome in 1752, but before leaving for Rome, he also apprenticed with Charles-André van Loo, a native of Nice.

Jean-Honoré was a Rococo artist, but during his lifetime Rococo art was all but eclipsed as Neoclassicism became the art of the day. Moreover, Fragonard was not spared the French Revolution. It deprived him of patrons, most of whom were guillotined or went into exile. He then took refuge in his native Grasse, where he remained until the 19th century. When he returned to Paris, he had become a forgotten artist.

His productivity is stunning. His legacy numbers 550 or so works, excluding etchings and drawings. Etchings are more affordable than paintings since several copies, limited and numbered, can be made. Moreover, the actual etching can be executed by an assistant who copies his master’s drawings.

Fragonard best-knowing works are associated with a contained form of Rococo art. According to Wikipedia, Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s work is charactered by exuberance and hedonism, which are Rococo features. Fragonard also produced genre paintings “conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism.” (Wikipedia) “Veiled eroticim” is also a characteristic of François Boucher’s works, Fragonard’s first teacher. Louis XV is often described as a libertin king and libertinage is expressed in the art created during his reign.

Madame de Pompadour was a patron to François Boucher and Madame Du Barry, a patron to Fragonard. She became a royal mistress, and was guillotined on December 8th, 1793.

La Liseuse by Fragonard, c. 1776

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Sources:

Sir F. J. B. Watson, “Jean-Honoré Fragonard.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 21 Jul. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/215648/Jean-Honore-Fragonard>.
Wikipedia

21 July 2012

WordPress

A Glimpse at the Art of François Boucher

21 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by michelinewalker in Art, Rococo

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Antoine Watteau, Boucher, Encyclopædia Britannica, François Boucher, French Revolution, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Jacques-Louis David, Peter Paul Rubens, Rococo, Wikipedia

La Toilette by François Boucher

Photo credit: La Toilette

François Boucher: 1703 – 1770 Rococo

Video: the music is by Haydn

François Boucher (29 September 1703 – 30 May 1770) “was a French painter, a proponent of Rococo taste, known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories representing the arts or pastoral occupations, intended as a sort of two-dimensional furniture. He also painted several portraits of his illustrious patroness, Louis XV’s official mistress, Madame de Pompadour.” (Wikipedia)

The son of an artist, François Boucher won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1723. He was influenced by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo and Peter Paul Rubens. On his return from Rome, he did engravings of drawings by Antoine Watteau. Later, “[a]fter illustrating an edition of Molière’s works, he drew cartoons of farmyard scenes and chinoiserie for the Beauvais tapestry factory.”[i]

Madame de Pompadour, by François Boucher

News of his talents quickly reached Versailles. He worked for the queen and for Mme de Pompadour, Louis XV’s chief mistress. “He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1734 and then became the principal producer of designs for the royal porcelain factories, as well as director of the Gobelins tapestry factory. In 1765 he became director of the Royal Academy and held the title of first painter to King Louis XV.”[ii]

Rococo art, decoration and architecture are characterized by movement. It is a busy and often features a profusion of fabrics. It followed the baroque, a more restrained style. Rococo æsthetics is in fact an extreme that called for a return to sober depictions and more serious contents that would reflect the intellectual endeavour of the Encyclopédistes. For instance, although Jacques-Louis David was a student of François Boucher, he is a neoclassicist. As for Boucher, his art typifies the lightheartedness that preceded the French Revolution. We see opulence and hear laughter, but a storm is approaching. In this regard, Boucher’s art resembles that of Antoine Watteau (1684 – 1721) and Jean-Honoré F ragonard 1732 – 1806).

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[i] “François Boucher.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 20 Jul. 2012. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/75367/Francois-Boucher>.

[ii] Ibid.