NARRATOR:
The Happy Lovers by the 18th-century French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard is a charming commentary on the nature of love and feminine wiles.
The girl points to a bird trap she dangles above the young man’s head. Here, it’s a sign that she has captured his heart, and he gazes at her adoringly, fondling a dove, the bird of love.
Still, there are indications that he can easily be replaced. At the lower left, in the distance, is a larger trap with several doves fluttering around it. Above it is a net, controlled by a string. Follow that string, and you’ll discover that it loops over the fence and trails across the girl’s lap. With a simple tug, she can ensnare as many hearts as she pleases.
The playful romantic subject, fanciful setting and candy-box colors are all hallmarks of Fragonard’s style, a style perfectly attuned to the frivolous and pleasure-loving court of King Louis XV. This picture was painted in the 1760s. A few years later, the French Revolution would topple the aristocracy, and tastes would shift to a more austere approach, and subjects celebrating heroism and self-sacrifice. Fragonard, once the toast of Paris, would die in 1806 at the age of 74, neglected and forgotten.
Happy Lovers
c. 1751–1755
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732-1806)
On View
The pleasure-loving character of the Rococo is joyously expressed in this delightful painting by Fragonard. A young couple enjoys the seclusion of a rustic retreat. Branches, leaves, and flowers form an embroidered arbor around the pair that contributes to the frivolity of the scene. Fragonard’s tactile brushwork creates a voluptuous surface that complements the subject. The pretty young girl plays the temptress to the boy who is the willing object of her affection. Above his head, she dangles a birdcage, its door already ajar. As a symbol both moralizing and erotic, the birdcage carried implications for the dalliance between the young couple that would have been easily recognizable to its eighteenth-century audience.
Details
- Artist Name: Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732-1806)
- Title: Happy Lovers
- Date: c. 1751–1755
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 35-1/2 x 47-3/4 in. (90.2 x 121.3 cm)
- Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
- Accession Number: F.1965.1.021.P
- Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation
Object Information
Hippolyte-Pol Poitevin, Officer of the Legion of Honor, Paris.
[E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris and New York in April, 1917, sold same year to];
Judge Elbert H. Gary (c. 1889–1927), New York, still in 15 June 1918.
Mrs. Lewis Nixon (née Sally Lewis Wood, 1891–1937), New York, sold 1935 to;
[Duveen Bros., New York, stock no. 29712, as The Happy Lovers/The Bird Cage/Les amants heureux, sold 1965 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
[E. Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris and New York in April, 1917, sold same year to];
Judge Elbert H. Gary (c. 1889–1927), New York, still in 15 June 1918.
Mrs. Lewis Nixon (née Sally Lewis Wood, 1891–1937), New York, sold 1935 to;
[Duveen Bros., New York, stock no. 29712, as The Happy Lovers/The Bird Cage/Les amants heureux, sold 1965 to];
The Norton Simon Foundation.
A Loan Exhibition of French Paintings, XVII-XX Centuries
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