Rococo romance: ten paintings of swings, gardens and gallant couples
Fragonard's swing, Boucher's shepherds, and the painters of the 1880s to 1920s who dreamed of powdered wigs and silk. Love in the eighteenth-century manner.
In the France of Louis XV, Boucher and Fragonard invented a new kind of love painting: lighthearted, flirtatious, set in gardens and woods, all pink silk and green leaves. A hundred years later the fashion came back, and painters across Europe filled their canvases with gentlemen in tricorn hats and ladies in hooped gowns, flirting on garden benches and windy beaches. Here are the originals and the revival together.
1. The Swing
Jean-Honoré Fragonard — The Swing, 1767. The Wallace Collection, London. Complete composition.
A young woman in a froth of pink silk flies forward on a swing, kicking her slipper into the air, while a young man hidden in the roses below gazes up at her and an older man in the shadows works the ropes. A statue of Cupid raises a finger to his lips. Fragonard's Swing, painted in 1767, is the most famous flirtation in art.
The rococo masterpiece itself, in deep greens and blush pink: a statement for any wall.
2. The Happy Lovers
Jean-Honoré Fragonard — The Happy Lovers, c. 1760–65. Norton Simon Museum. Complete composition.
Fragonard's Happy Lovers lie in a meadow under an arch of flowering branches. She holds a little birdcage high in the air; he lies back in her lap, laughing. The sky is the clear blue of a porcelain cup.
Light, bright and full of joy: the happiest painting in the collection.
3. Shepherd and Shepherdess
François Boucher — Shepherd and Shepherdess, 1760. Complete composition.
François Boucher's shepherd and shepherdess rest in a dark woodland glade, she in pale silk with roses in her hands, he leaning over her shoulder. A little spaniel stands guard and a flock waits nearby. These were not real shepherds, of course, but courtiers' dreams of country love.
Soft and dreamy, full of silk and flowers: a quiet, decorative picture.
4. A New Basket of Flowers
Federico Andreotti — A New Basket of Flowers, before 1930. Complete composition.
A young woman with powdered hair and roses in it sits in a flowered silk gown with a basket of fresh roses on her arm, smiling out at us, while a young man in a powdered wig leans over her shoulder with a mandolin. Federico Andreotti painted many such scenes in Florence around 1900, each one a little costume party.
Roses everywhere, painted with great polish: a romantic picture for a bedroom.
5. A Lovers' Conversation in the Park
Federico Andreotti — A Lovers' Conversation in the Park, before 1930. Complete composition.
In Andreotti's park, a lady with a pink parasol sits on a stone bench in a silk gown, and a gentleman in a tricorn hat leans over the balustrade to talk to her, offering a hand. Behind them, a lake and tall trees fade into a summer haze.
Wide, sunlit and calm: a lovely picture for over a sofa.
6. Courtship
Antonio Lonza — Courtship, before 1918. Complete composition.
On a garden path, a young man in a powdered wig and pale blue coat steps close to a girl in a striped silk gown and a flowered hat, touching her face. Antonio Lonza paints the green of the park and the flick of her skirt with real lightness.
Fresh green and pastel silk: a sweet, summery picture.
7. Gallant Couple on the Shore
Georges Clairin — Gallant Couple on the Shore, before 1919. Complete composition.
On a windy beach, a lady in a pink dress clutches her hat and her flying ribbons as she steps on to a rock, and a gentleman in a tricorn and long brown coat reaches up to steady her. Georges Clairin paints the wind itself, in sweeps of pale colour.
Airy, pale and full of movement: a seaside picture with real charm.
8. Romantic Scene by the Sea
Edmond-Louis Dupain — Romantic Scene by the Sea, before 1933. Complete composition.
Edmond-Louis Dupain's cavalier in a wide hat and his lady in gold silk walk along a rocky shore under a stormy sky, a white greyhound bounding at their feet. It is the seventeenth century as the Belle Époque imagined it: swashbuckling and romantic.
Wind, sea and swagger: the most adventurous of the gallant pictures.
9. Gallant Scene
Pio Ricci — Gallant Scene, before 1919. Complete composition.
In a salon of green silk and gilded furniture, a young woman in a pink gown sits on a sofa with a young man in a yellow waistcoat leaning against her shoulder. Pio Ricci paints every texture: the tiled stove, the screen painted with birds, the fur rug on the floor.
A jewel box of an interior: for anyone who loves detail.
10. The Gallant Officer
Frédéric Soulacroix — The Gallant Officer, before 1933. Complete composition.
At the door of a house with a round window, a hussar in a plumed shako and fur-trimmed jacket stands with his sabre, and a young woman in a blue gown and lace bonnet looks up at him from the step. Soulacroix calls him The Gallant Officer.
Bright uniform and blue silk: a lively, colourful picture.
The rococo mood never quite went away; it is the reason a Fable portrait can feel like a costume and a compliment at once. Every painting here can be printed whole, and each has its own portrait style.
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