Year 1786 Created 1788 | Medium Oil on canvas Period Rococo Genre History painting | |
 | ||
Dimensions 168.5 cm × 168.5 cm (66.3 in × 66.3 in) Similar Jean-Honoré Fragonard artwork, Rococo artwork, History paintings | ||
Broken brush the stolen kiss walkthrough
The Stolen Kiss is a painting by French painter Jean Honore Fragonard (1732–1806) from the end of the 1780s, depicting a secretive romance. The painting was hosted in the collection of the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg. The style of the painting was characteristic of the French Rococo period and was favoured by the wealthy art patrons of his time.
Contents
Painting
The painting depicts a passionate kiss between two lovers, showing a young lady in creme-coloured silk gown who has left her company for a secret meeting with a young man. The composition is diagonal, made up by an axis composed through her leaning figure, the shawl and the balcony door opening from the outside, ending with the table the shawl is draped over. The painting offers an array of compositional contrasts between colours and shadows: the spatial intersections are complex.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard's works display the kind of eroticism and voluptuousness and the liking for romantic folly that was popular before the French Revolution among French aristocrats. Fragonard includes scenes of voyeurism in his paintings. This scene is depicting the stolen kiss in lavish surroundings, containing luxurious details of textures, silks and lace, like the rug with flower pattern, silk draperies, her shawl on the chair, the elegantly clad ladies that are visible through the open door. The dominant French culture influenced how Fragonard chose his themes, that were mostly erotic or love scenes, painted for Louis XV's pleasure-loving court's enjoyment.