The Swing

Form

  • Intrigue painting: Depicts subjects who are secretive, or engaged in something illicit; oten, scenes of a clandestine love affair
  • Soft brush strokes, Curving lines, diagonal compositions, pastel, feminine figure as an emphasis: CONTRAST
  • Showing the frill and luxury of pastel colors: She is pink with green contrasting around her
  • Atmospheric perspective
    • Everything is circling around her

Function

  • Someone asked if Fragonard to go to his house and asks for a painting of his mistress on his swing
  • Patron might have been the Barron De Saint Julien
  • Upper class, gardens for play, couples playing a game by swinging, we are playing the game by interpreting the paint

Content

  • Scene of scandal and flirtation and decret love
  • Bishop behind is pushing and could be a comment on the possible corruption of the church
  • Garden is fertile and abundant based off of a typical English garden
  • Lots of iconography
  • Swing associated with fickleness
    • Reference to her cheating
  • Dog barking showing how the scene should be quiet
  • Pink representing femininity
  • Shoe flying at cupid as a notion to passion
  • Man at the bottom doesn’t have a hat and he is extending his arm towards the woman
  • Dolphins are a reference to Venus
  • Putty who is sitting next to the dolphin is one of cupids friends and you still have the lightening of the background and the darkening of the foreground with dramatic lighting and fine details

Context

  • Expression of their status
  • Playfulness
  • Aristocrats don’t have jobs, they exist to express their status
  • Games were popular for French Aristocrats showing their ability for leisure
  • Public gardens were very popular allowing for flirtation with the aristocrats
  • While thing about relationships that should/ shouldn’t be happening

Learning Objective

18th c. Rococo Painting

Themes

  • Sexuality
  • Male/ Female Relationships
  • Nature
  • Iconography
  • Status