18th century, French School, Gallant Scenes

18th century, French school 

Gallant scenes

(2) Oil on panel, 24 x 19 cm

With frame, 44 x 36 cm

This pair of works, dating back to the 18th-century French art movement, celebrates the theme of courtly love and sensual pleasure, typical of Rococo painting. They depict two courtship scenes that closely adhere to the parameters of ancient courtly rituals. The festive and playful atmosphere that emanates from the two canvases perfectly reflects the carefree and refined lifestyle of the aristocracy that gravitated toward the principal European courts in the 18th century. The attention to detail, such as the precious fabrics, jewels, and exquisite ornaments, emphasizes the luxury and refinement of court life, in keeping with the taste and aesthetic of French Rococo. The two works in question fit squarely into the purely 18th-century pictorial genre of the gallant scene. This movement was radically opposed to the imposing and solemn classicism of the previous century, and sought to convey an unmistakable sense of voluptuousness, frivolity, and inevitable decadence, a sort of paradise lost. By now, the nobility, almost completely stripped of the power that had firmly held them until the seventeenth century, attempted in vain to display their apparent wealth with their lavish parties in these paintings, a reflection of the spirit of the times. This style of painting, which enjoyed immense popularity around the middle of the century, was swept away by the events that followed the French Revolution. In these two small, romantic scenes, the influence of the work of key figures in eighteenth-century French art, Watteau and Boucher, is strongly felt. Jean-Antoine Watteau was one of the founders of the Rococo style in France, with his scenes of romantic parties and his marvelous bucolic landscapes populated by mythical characters or a courtly audience madly in love with life and its pleasures. Influenced by Rubens and the early 18th-century works of the flourishing Venetian school, particularly Tiepolo's, the French artist favored a colorful, expressive, and vibrant palette, as well as the use of sharp, rapid brushstrokes. François Boucher, also close to Watteau's teachings, focused primarily on the perfection of perspective, learned from the Baroque masters, and the pursuit of vibrant color, borrowed from the models, perceived as absolutely illustrious, of Rubens and Correggio. The French artist's courtly and gallant scenes have a bucolic and pastoral air, which also seems to be perceptible in these two paintings, a reflection of the French artistic climate of the second half of the 18th century.

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