4 Chapter 3 – Jean-Honore Fragonard

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The arts are things people enjoy and appreciate, and often underestimate their connection to culture. Both music and works of art fit with time periods, such as the Rococo era in France in the 1720s to 1760s. The Rococo era was light, fun, sensual, and rich as the French people experienced a reprieve after an oppressive monarchy. One of the artists who made an impact during this period was Jean-Honore Fragonard. His personality fits with the Rococo style as he preferred to bring an artistic, light, and fun side to life, which kept him safe during the Revolution.

Jean-Honore Fragonard was born on April 5, 1732.^[1] The artist grew up in a small town until his family moved to Paris when he was fifteen. There, he was apprenticed to a notary’s office.^[2] However, it became evident to his employer that Fragonard was not interested in transcribing deeds as he was constantly drawing pictures, and the notary suggested to his family that he should study under a painter.^[3] Putting the young man into training as an artist proved to be the best thing for him in the long run, although his beginning as an artist brought considerable doubt to his abilities.

Fragonard was taken to Francois Boucher, who sent him to Chardin for his initial training since Boucher didn’t take novice students at the time.^[4] Chardin put great effort into training Fragonard, but their styles and natural tastes clashed so strongly that Fragonard wasn’t interested in cooperating with Chardin, who eventually told his family that he would not do very well as an artist since he was “incorrigibly idle.”^[5] Fragonard was rather lazy and focused on pleasure-seeking, but his seeming idleness paid off as it involved walking the streets of Paris and looking at the paintings in the churches before heading home to make copies from memory.^[6] After about three years with Chardin, Fragonard took his copies to Boucher, who realized his skill and took him on immediately as a student.^[7] Under the instruction of Boucher, Fragonard went on to win the Prix De Rome, which was a scholarship that allowed him a trip to study the works of the famous painters in Rome.^[8] Rome is where Fragonard developed his style and came back ready to paint a masterpiece that would perfectly fit the style of his time.^[9] His way of following his interests and style prepared him to fit right in with the era of Rococo.

The Rococo style focused on grandeur, luxury, and sensuality. After the king’s death, the French aristocracy returned to their homes to enjoy the luxury and privacy of their spaces.^[10] The Rococo focused on the sensory experience, covering everything from the fabric to the food and the aesthetics of the spaces where the frivolity of life was happening.^[11] The paintings that followed the Rococo style were filled with fun, games, and erotism.^[12] The French loved games with a vertigo effect that offered rapidly changing perspectives, giving experiences a dizzy excitement, such as Blind Man’s Bluff, seesaws, and swings.^[13] Swings were a particular favourite activity during the Rococo since it was viewed as a relaxing exercise. Still, more importantly, it allowed for “positions and free display that were prohibited in life outside the game as violations of social propriety.”^[14] After all, accidents will happen when one is exercising. With the French experiencing relief from the oppression of the previous monarchy, they swung hard, pun intended, to the side of openness to experiences that focused on pleasure-seeking. Fragonard took the time to capture Rococo’s mood with vigor, as he was also enthralled with leisure and personal pleasure.^[15]

One of Fragonard’s most famous pieces, The Swing 1767, best displays the leisure and sensuality of the Rococo. He did multiple versions of The Swing, but the 1767 piece is the most well-known. In this piece, Fragonard used symbolism to bring emotion to the piece and to provide intellectual intrigue.^[16] The Swing shows the playfulness that accompanied the era as the center of the composition focuses on the lady on the swing.^[17] In the painting, the initial focus is the apparent eroticism with the spread of the young lady’s legs and the man in the bushes to whom she seems to be willingly giving a complete view.^[18] Then comes the more subtle aspects of the piece, where things such as the cupids and the flying shoe represent different aspects of the situation. The cupids beside each other show the connection between the lady and the man pulling the swing. In contrast, the whispering solitary Cupid discloses that she may have a secret relationship with the young man in the bushes, and the shoe is sometimes used to represent infidelity.^[19]

Swings themselves were meant to draw the eye back and forth across the piece, bringing in the viewer’s memories of their own experience of leisure and fun.^[20] Like the games accompanying the idea of swings, The Swing and pieces like it were designed to give the viewer an escape into imagination and an opening for pleasure.^[21] Fragonard’s swings were created to be playful and open to changes in direction and possibilities, just like the motion of a swing.^[22]

Like his famous swings, Jean-Honore Fragonard was suited for his time. He was frivolous, fond of leisure, and able to move with the changes of his time to capture what would best please his clients.^[23] He painted art that suited the taste of his clients and the era but was able to go with the flow as things began to change. The change came in strong with the French Revolution. Several artists had difficulty adapting when the Revolution hit and were either at a loss with their work and position or joined up firmly with those opposing the monarchy.^[24]

Fragonard was an artist who, with previous connections and a relaxed personality, navigated the Revolution with little personal trouble.^[25] He was a close friend of Jacques-Louis David, and he made a point of working for private patrons rather than the Academy. This set him up well when the Revolution hit since David was a strong leader of the Revolution, and private patrons had kept Fragonard from being tied too closely to the soon-to-be executed government.^[26]  Fragonard continued to go with the flow as the Revolution hit. His independence, intelligence, and originality were part of his charm, and he was generally seen as likable.^[27] His relaxed personality and support for the Revolutionary movement kept him afloat throughout the upheaval that took place during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror afterward.^[28]

Throughout his lifetime, Jean-Honore Fragonard experienced one of the most light-hearted periods of French history and one of the bloodiest. His personality was the personification of the Rococo era, which helped him overcome the Revolution with less trouble than most of his peers. Although his characteristics of laziness, love of leisure, and sensuality would not generally be viewed favourably, Fragonard’s more relaxed responses allowed him to go with the flow, keeping those in power happy while still doing his own thing on the side.

Bibliography

Bylsma, Megan. 19th Century European Art History. Red Deer: Open Education Alberta, 2022. https://doi.org/10.29173/oer50.

“Fragonard Paintings, Bio, Ideas.” The Art Story. Accessed October 7, 2024. https://www.theartstory.org/artist/fragonard-jean-honore/.

Hays, Peter L. “Fitzgerald and Fragonard.” ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews 19, no. 3 (2006), 27-30. doi:10.3200/anqq.19.3.27-30.

Milam, Jennifer. “Playful Constructions and Fragonard’s Swinging Scenes.” Eighteenth-Century Studies 33, no. 4 (2000), 543–59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/30054162.

Nevill, Ralph. “Jean Honoré Fragonard. Article I.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 3, no. 7 (1903), 51–57. http://www.jstor.org/stable/855709.

Nevill, Ralph. “Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Article II-(Conclusion).” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 3, no. 9 (1903), 286–93. http://www.jstor.org/stable/855795.

Schroder, Anne L. “Fragonard’s Later Career: The “Contes et Nouvelles” and the Progress of Love Revisited.” The Art Bulletin 93, no. 2 (2011), 150–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23046591.