Artwork
The Swing
The Swing is an oil painting by the Rococo painting artist Nicolas Lancret. It dates from 1725 and is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
The painting focuses on a figure interacting with a swing suspended from the tree's branches, capturing a moment of leisure typical of 18th-century French art.
Nicolas Lancret's The Swing, created in 1725, depicts a scene set within a natural environment dominated by a large tree. The painting focuses on a figure interacting with a swing suspended from the tree's branches, capturing a moment of leisure typical of 18th-century French art. While the specific narrative details of the figures are not elaborated in the provided records, the composition centers on the interaction between the human subject and the arboreal setting.
The work represents a genre scene of recreation, emphasizing the relationship between the figure and the surrounding nature.
Technique & Style
The Swing is an oil painting executed on canvas, a standard support for French eighteenth-century easel pictures. Its tall, vertical format is established by the recorded dimensions of 150.8 by 89.7 centimeters, producing a roughly five-by-three proportion that suits an elevated figural composition framed by a tree, the motif the work is documented to depict.
Stylistically, the painting belongs to Nicolas Lancret's mature output of 1725, a period in which he worked in the French Rococo tradition associated with fêtes galantes. The handling is consistent with that idiom: oil paint applied to canvas in a manner suited to lively outdoor scenes, with the depicted tree providing a vertical anchor for the figures arranged within the swing's diagonal movement.
No specific conservation or condition report is documented in the available sources, and the painting is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.
History & Provenance
The Swing by Nicolas Lancret is held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland. The work carries the accession number 1948.176.5 within the museum's records. Currently displayed as an oil painting on canvas, it was created in France in 1725.
The provided sources do not contain specific details regarding past exhibitions or a full provenance history beyond its current institutional holding.
Overview
Nicolas Lancret's painting, The Swing, dates from 1725 and exemplifies the Rococo movement. Executed in oil paint, this work captures a moment of leisure and social interaction. It is currently part of the collection at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Lancret was a French artist recognized for his depictions of the social customs and lighthearted amusements prevalent during the Regency and early reign of Louis XV.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Nicolas Lancret (French pronunciation:; 22 January 1690 – 14 September 1743) was a French painter.
