1763
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Bacchanales is a 1763 by Jean Honoré Fragonard, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
This painting shows people having fun and playing around in a park. They're dancing and laughing together, and some are even fighting. The artist was inspired by his time in Italy, where he studied old sculptures and designs. He might have also looked at other artists' work for ideas. The people in the painting are followers of the wine god, but he's not there. You can learn more about this style by looking at the technique of sfumato.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard made these four etchings shortly after returning to Paris from Italy, where he studied antique subjects and sculpture. He may have also looked at other sources for inspiration, such as Jacques François Joseph Saly’s suite of vase designs. Though the prints feature the followers of Bacchus, the wine god does not make an appearance. Instead, Fragonard highlighted the playfully erotic frolics, conflicts, and even family life of a group of bacchants, conceiving them as low-relief sculptures on stone fragments within abundant foliage. Fragonard’s creations helped to…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born on 5 April 1732 in Grasse, the son of a glover, and moved with his family to Paris in 1738.
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