Happy Lovers
c. 1751–1755
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French, 1732–1806)
Oil on canvas
The Norton Simon Foundation
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.
In Focus: Jean-Honoré Fragonard at the Norton Simon Museum
Learn more about Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the extraordinary artist of Happy Lovers, in a 2015 video narrated by Curator Gloria Willams Sander. In addition to two paintings, the Museum is home to a substantial collection of Fragonard’s drawings. Created on a five-month journey through Italy with his patron Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non, these 139 chalk drawings record works of art that the two encountered on their extended study trip, known as the Grand Tour. Given the light-sensitive nature of works on paper, Fragonard’s drawings are only occasionally on display in our galleries, but the Art in Focus spotlight series allows viewers to delve more deeply into this area of strength in the Museum’s collections.
