Lancret will always play second fiddle to his peer, Watteau. In fact, he only really became popular after Watteau died, being the last man standing for this kind of work.
Anyway, I like him better than Watteau because he was kicked out of the Academie Royale in 1708 for bad behaviour. Imagining all those powdered prigs behaving badly is hilarious, until you realize they'd run you through with a sword for using the wrong fork.
Though he painted more than seven hundred works, these gorgeous paintings of Chinoiserie-inflected frames (with typical fête galante scenes) are difficult to find. I love them mostly for the frames, and have referred to these several times in my own work. I hope you find them useful too.
He was the "Saliere"of ornamentation!! Granted, his style is not my favorite....I do enjoy and learn from his borders, just not lovin' those lovers swathed with foliage.
ReplyDeleteWhat did I do before Surface Fragments????
ReplyDeleteThere is a whole sub-category for these Chinoseries called 'Singeries' - that's where playful monkeys are jumping around the image. Singe is French for monkey - what else?
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