101 – The Swing
Jean-Honore’ Fragonard. 1767 C.E. Oil on canvas
Video at Khan Academy
Rococo
Content:
o The painting depicts a young man hidden in the bushes, watching a woman on a swing,
being pushed by an elderly man, almost hidden in the shadows, and unaware of the
lover. As the lady goes high on the swing, she lets the young man take a furtive peep
under her dress, all while flicking her own shoe off in the direction of a Cupid and
turning her back to two angelic cherubim on the side of the older man
The lady is wearing a bergère hat (shepherdess hat) which is ironic since shepherds are normally
associated with virtue
This style of "frivolous" painting soon became the target of the philosophers of the
Enlightenment, who demanded a more serious art which would show the nobility of man
There are a number of copies (none by Fragonard)
