Fragonard, The Swing

Fragonard, The Swing Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, oil on canvas, 1767 (Wallace Collection, London) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

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Fragonard, The Swing

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[music]
We're in the Wallace Collection in London. This is Fragonard's, "The Swing".
And the first thing that I notice is this "poof" of pink and lacy white in the center of the painting. This woman is going up
on a swing and I notice she's sitting on a red velvet and gold seat on that swing
held up by ropes and this fabulous swirl of a hat and we can see her white silk stockings and she flips one pink slipper into the air.
- And she looks completely mischievous - And of course what's going on is very naughty because we have a figure
in the left corner that she's looking down at, who's obviously her lover
hidden in the bushes and she's connived the man in the opposite corner to push her on a swing, an older gentleman
- who's probably innocent of the fact that the young man
is hidden in the bushes. - Yes, and we've just noticed that there's a double row of short fencing surrounding the sculpture
on the left side, so her lover's obviously gone into a little area that you're not supposed to go into
that's sort of over-grown with wild roses and is sort of hiding in the bushes there.
- Take a look at that sculpture on the left. It actually shows a little angelic figure or a putti who's actually got his finger up to his lips
as if he's saying "shh", uh, keep the secret. - And we're not out in the wild here
we're like behind a villa or a palace... - You can just actually make out
some architecture in the distance, just under her left arm. This is a garden that's been over-grown, that's lush but it's
out of control. It is nature at it's most, sort of, energetic
and - fertile - fertile - and abundant - exactly - right, sort of speaking to the
sort of sexual, sensual theme - and somewhat dream-like
as well, you know, in its mists.
The tree and its boughs are, at times, full of foliage and, at times, are bare
and represents, sometimes what is referred to as, the blast and the bough
which is almost like lightning; criss-crossing across the canvas - mmhmm -
which is sometimes used as an expression of passion, which would be absolutely appropriate here of course.
- We have behind, just under the woman, a sculpture that shows two little, also putti, or cupid-like figures
being playful with each other and on what maybe looks like a beehive. Perhaps indicating
the stings of love. - Easy to miss, in the bottom right corner
is a little dog - yeah, yapping - that seems to be yapping. Now a dog of course
is a symbol of fidelity. - That's a little bit ironic here - Well, maybe that's why the dog's a little upset
- And it's almost like the dog is perhaps giving away the secret. - Oh, right. That's right - and the sculpture is saying "shh"
- This is 1767, so we're really a couple of decades before the
revolution. But this is the kind of indulgence and expression of pleasure that really does characterize the aristocracy
and the ruling class in France. - And it's this kind of painting, this kind of painting that seems to
be about only pleasure that Diderot and the other thinkers
of the enlightenment are going to rail against and call for an art that is heroic
and virtuous and appeals to the highest human aspirations and not our basest human aspirations
and it's that kind of enlightenment thinking that will lead, of course, to the revolution in 1789

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Fragonard, The Swing Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Swing, oil on canvas, 1767 (Wallace Collection, London) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

Fragonard, The Swing

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