“The Swing”, by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

A suggestive painting from pre-Revolutionary France

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) was an 18th century French painter best known for his works in the Rococo style, although he later turned his attention to Neoclassicism. Rococo was a reaction to the formalism of Baroque, and was typified by excessive ornament and an emphasis on lightness, playfulness and intimacy. “The Swing”, painted in 1767, is often referred to as a prime example of French Rococo, and with good reason.

The painting features a young woman, wearing a florid pink dress, who is being pushed on a garden swing that is suspended from the branches of a tree. Unseen by the woman’s husband, who is doing the pushing, is his much younger rival for the woman’s attentions, who is half-hidden in the garden shrubbery but who has an excellent view of the woman’s legs as her skirts are thrown up by the motion of the swing. The painting is therefore highly frivolous and suggestive, which is one reason why it has been thought to be typical of the low morals and lack of seriousness displayed by the upper classes in pre-Revolutionary France.

The painting was commissioned by the Baron de Saint-Julien, who wanted a portrait of himself at play with his young mistress. He is therefore the lover in the bushes. His original brief was for the swing to…