Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Early 18th Century Art - The Meeting




The Meeting by Jean-Honore Fragonard created in 1773 is a product of the Rococo period. We are seeing a lighthearted scene of a young man and woman in a very serene garden. We can see that this is from the Rococo period due to several distinct stylistic characteristics. We can see that loose brushstrokes were used in order to create the trees, bushes, and flowers in the painting. The colors in the background are somewhat muted and more on the pastel side in comparison to the red of the young man’s jacket and the bright white and yellow of the woman’s dress. The majority of this painting is based around organic forms showing an extreme interest in nature and the outdoors. A large amount of interest is put on the trees and flowers, seeing that the setting of this painting is a garden. Emphasis on nature and organic forms is something that we see over and over again in artwork being produced during the Rococo period. We can see that there is a sculpture placed in the center of the garden of Venus and cupid. Showing these mythological figures adds to the theme of love between the woman and man in the painting. Depicting mythological figures is again something that we see quite frequently in artwork from the Rococo time period.
The scene being depicted is that of an affair. We are seeing the young man cautiously climbing over the wall and starting to enter a private garden. The young woman is putting her arm out towards him as if telling him to stay still while she checks to see no one is around to catch them together. Both the garden and mythological figures give off a sense of sexuality and fertility. It is interesting because this painting was specifically commissioned by a woman to be created by Jean-Honore Fragonard. Fragonard didn’t finish this painting until the end of the Rococo period causing this painting to be rejected by the woman who commissioned it because she felt that the style was old and now out of date. However, it has been discussed that the reason she truly did reject the painting was because the young man and the young woman looked a little too familiar. To me the man and woman seem to be quite ambiguous and hard to identify as one particular individual however the woman who commissioned this said the woman looked a little too much like her and the man looked a little too much like Louis XV. They in real life were having an affair so it makes sense that the woman rejected the painting and didn’t want it to be seen and bring her affair to light.
            Jean-Honore Fragonard created some absolutely amazing artwork during the Rococo period that displayed themes of love while incorporating organic forms, aristocracy, and mythological figures, all created with loose brushstrokes. The Meeting fulfills all the ideals of the Rococo period and depicts quite an obvious affair.

Source: 
http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/fragonard-the-meeting

5 comments:

  1. Hi Carly! That Smarthistory video is nice - I've had other students watch that video in the past. (I love how they describe Rococo painting as "frothy.")

    Your picture is not showing up on my end. If students are interested in seeing an image of this painting, click HERE.

    -Prof. Bowen

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  2. It is interesting that the patron believed that she looked too much like the female depiction, and therefore rejected it. The female in the painting looks like a porcelain doll, to me. I agree with your statement that the faces are "ambiguous".

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  3. I found the information about why the painting was rejected to be very interesting. I also like how you observed that Venus and Cupid where sculptures placed within the garden helping to add to the theme of the painting.

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  4. Ah! Another Fragonard piece. I really liked his style of work and enjoyed hearing about another piece of his. The background behind how the work was created was very interesting, and I don't think I fully considered that in my own project. However, it would be very easy to see why the women rejected the piece because it does look a lot like Louis XIV in the work.

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  5. I think it is interesting that the statue of venus and cupid in the middle of the painting and I agree that it is to show love. At first I wouldn't have thought it was an affair that was going on, but reading what you wrote I see that now.

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