Love Letters ~ Jean Honore Fragonard

I bought this painting for my sister cos she wants a romantic one and I think this one is romantic enough, don’t you think so? Soft pastel colours, lovers and their love letters. Jean-Honore Fragonard was a French painter born 1732 in Paris, whose scenes of frivolity and gallantry are among the most complete embodiments of the Rococo spirit. A prolific painter who rarely dated his works so it is not easy to chart his stylistic development. His paintings seem to sum up an era with his delicate coloring, witty characterization, and spontaneous brushwork ensured that even his most erotic subjects are never vulgar, and his finest work has an irresistible verve and joyfulness. His famous paintings and artwork include The Swing (circa.1767), which I first saw in Harper’s Bazaar June issue and The Reader. A member of the Academy who painted for private patrons including for Madame du Barry, Louis XV’s mistress, The Progress of Love (Frick Collection, New York, 1771-73) but later were returned by her. And it seems that taste was already turning against Fragonard's lighthearted style. He tried to adapt himself to the new Neoclasical vogue but it was unsuccessful, he was ruined by the Revolution and died in poverty in 1806. click for larger image