Jean-Honoré Fragonard
"The Swing", oil on canvas, (1767).
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was a French painter of the 18th century. He was known for participating in both the Neoclassical and Rococo movements with his artwork. During this deep analysis on one his greatest works, “The Swing” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1767), you’ll be able to learn the story behind the painting. Before you begin reading, do you believe Fragonard faced any criticism from the public because of his paintings? Do you think that the paintings he made after the French Revolution received good praise? What sort of impact do you predict Fragonard had during the Neoclassical and Rococo movements?
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Born as the son of a haberdasher’s assistant, Jean-Honoré Fragonard was very intrigued by art from a very young age. Before moving to Paris, France with the rest of his family in 1738, Fragonard was born around 900km away in Grasse, France, where he was apprenticed to a lawyer in 1747. The lawyer noticed young Fragonard’s interest of drawing, and suggested that he should be taught painting instead. The following year, François Boucher then accepted Fragonard to become his new pupil, and immediately began training him. After Fragonard’s elementary training, on September 17th, 1756, he got accepted to go to the French Academy located in Rome, alongside other scholarship winners. At the academy, Fragonard copied several paintings by Roman Baroque artists with his friend, a French painter by the name of Hubert Robert, with whom he sketched Roman countrysides with. He stayed in the academy for a while after his scholarship ended in July of 1759, until a rich French amateur artist named Jean-Claude Richard, abbé de Saint-Non, was going to become his future chief patrons. In 1760, Saint-Non took Fragonard and Robert on a tour of Italy. There, both artists studied all the Italian art they had to offer. Up until the year 1769, where he married Marie-Anne Gérard from Grasse, he exhibited paintings such as “The Swing”, (1767) and “Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe” (1765), where it was purchased for King Louis XV. After getting married, he then received the accolade of fashion. He later got inspired by domestic scenes inspired by romantic novels and philosophers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, right after falling in love with his wife’s 14 year old sister, Marguerite. Fragonard then turned from painting Rococo paintings, to Neoclassical paintings and developed a style that will never be forgotten. Even after his almost unnoticeable death on August 22, 1806 in Paris, France, paintings that had such an impact after the French Revolution, where his paintings were deemed as “too closely associated with the pre-Revolutionary period”, were “The Fountain of Love”, (1785), and…
The Swing
“The Swing” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1767) has a beautiful garden as the setting, where a young woman in a pink dress floats through the air in the middle of the canvas. The garden symbolizes a natural and care-free environment while the young woman symbolizes youthful beauty, innocence, and femininity. While high off the ground on a swing with a soft red seat and ropes tied to the thick branches of a huge tree, she swings so dramatically that her little pink shoe flies through the air. The swing might represent emotional states you can go through in a romantic relationship. As the shoe is in the air, it’s flying towards a marble statue of the far left. The young putto appears to be symbolizing playfulness. The small pink shoe of the young woman symbolizes a loss of control. On the far right, an older man is sitting on a stone bench and helps make the swing move by pulling the ropes connected to the swing to make it go higher and push the woman forward. The older man might represent wisdom or guidance. At the bottom left, where the tall pedestal is holding the statue, there’s a young man. He’s partly hidden by a big rose bush and is staring up at the swinging woman in surprise. The young man symbolizes a romantic desire or longing, and his gaze may represent admiration or some sort of forbidden love.
Fragonard’s Impact
Jean-Honoré Fragonard made a big impact with his art in the Rococo and Neoclassical movements, especially with his fun and lighthearted paintings about love and beauty, like “The Swing” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1767). Like previously mentioned, people didn’t seem to like his art because it too playful since it focused on things like love and fun, especially after the French Revolution, where people wanted more serious art. Even though some didn’t appreciate it during Fragonard’s time alive, his paintings still influenced future artists and are now loved for their bright colors and the way they show deep feelings like romantic desires and youthfulness. How do you think Fragonard’s playful style influenced other artists in the years after the French Revolution? Do you believe that the lighthearted themes in Fragonard’s work were misunderstood during his time? Do you believe Fragonard’s work helped shape the Rococo and Neoclassical movements to what it is today? Thank you for following along and do not forget to click the comment button on the right-hand side to share your opinions and critiques on this matter! To read more articles, scroll down and click the “The Art of Love” tag in red! Tune in for more.
Sources:
https://smarthistory.org/jean-honore-fragonard-the-swing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Honor%C3%A9_Fragonard
https://smarthistory.org/jean-honore-fragonard-the-swing/
https://artincontext.org/jean-honore-fragonard/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Honore-Fragonard