Professor Koch
Art History 300
July 26, 2018
Visual Analysis of the Portrayal of Women
During the Age of Enlightenment, and the coinciding Rococo period, women were often depicted as objects of sexual desire. Jean-Baptiste Oudry’s oil on canvas painting titled Seated Lady in a Garden (n.d) portrays the ideal representation of a noblewoman during the Age of Enlightenment. Jean-Honore Fragonard’s iconic piece, The Swing (1767) is oil on canvas painting depicting a young woman at the center of a love triangle. Considered one of the most prolific artists of the French Rococo, Jean-Honore Fragonard was commissioned by the French libertine Baron de St. Julien to paint The Swing, a risqué composition in which the Baron’s mistress is the focal point. Fragonard’s piece beautifully glorifies the self-indulgent and lascivious attitudes of the upper-class lifestyle. The female form is the subject of both paintings and it is her figure, which is to be viewed, admired, and subjugated.
Jean-Baptiste Oudry’s Seated Lady in a Garden is set in a landscape behind a villa. A structure is faintly visible between the lush green foliage. In the center of his composition sits the subject: a young woman with eyes gazed directly at the viewer. In her right hand, she delicately holds a piece of succulent fruit while her left arm extends out to catch a small stream of water, which trickles from a swan-shaped fountain above. The opulence of her garments suggests material wealth, as does the elaborate styling of her powdered hair, in which delicate flowers are placed. Oudry overemphasizes her beauty with the addition of a pink silky bow, billowing lace, and flowered brooch. To her left a parrot sits perched on a terrace wall, its head is tilted with eyes fixed, mimicking the woman’s gaze. The content of Oudry’s piece hints that his subject, the woman, is on display and is intended to be viewed as exotic or pleasing to the eye.
In Seated Lady in a Garden, Oudry uses color to accentuate his subject’s status as a married noblewoman or court lady. Oudry employs complementary colors such as saturated yellows and oranges, which react with the cool blues of her taffeta robe. This technique illuminates the subject from the background and draws the viewer's eye back to the woman. He sets the landscape behind her in analogous colors, which include cool shades of green and blue. This gives a mist-like appearance, as if the scene were taking place in an enchanted garden. The tint of pink in her flowered brooch and silky bow signify her upper-class status. Oudry uses modeling to imply texture by applying refined layers of light and dark shades, or values, to create the pattern of delicate lace found on her sleeves. The use of high and low values creates contrast, blurs or softens edges, and creates a variety of visual textures. The varying textures add shape; her robe is smooth and silky, while the lace of her sleeves and gold brocade bodice appear coarse and ridged.
Jean-Baptiste Oudry was a master of chiaroscuro and closely studied light and its reflections. Chiaroscuro is used to render the illusion of three-dimensionality. In Seated Lady in a Garden, Oudry demonstrates this technique by using implied light to accentuate the contours of her legs, which are apparent beneath her dress. To imply mass, Oudry uses higher values where the light source hits the top of her legs and lower values where there is shade. This technique is also used in the angelic figure to the right of the piece. A light source is reflected off of the water in the fountain, which illuminates the putto perched in the tree branches. Unity and balance are achieved in this piece due to Oudry’s harmonious use of color and utilizing implied light to add texture and mass.
Jean-Honore Fragonard’s The Swing is rich with symbolism and manages to capture a moment of complete spontaneity. The subject is a young girl and she is positioned at the center of the composition. She sits on a red and gold velvet swing, which dangles from a tree branch above. Her young lover reclines in the lush shrubbery and overgrown wild roses with his outstretched arm reaching for her at the height of her swing. As she flies through the air, their gazes interlock with one another. A fabulous swirl of pastel pink fabric flows from her body and exposes her white stocking as she flips one pink slipper into the air. In the opposite corner stands an older gentleman who appears lost in the shadow of the towering tree. The older man, who is thought to be her husband, is innocent of the fact that her lover is hiding in the bushes. The content of the scene has been composed as though it was on a stage and this illicit play was composed for the viewers’ pleasure.
Fragonard uses psychological lines to direct the eye in such a way that the narrative is revealed gradually. This directs the viewer’s eye from the woman to her lover. In contrast, the young lady’s back is turned to her husband who is tasked with pushing her on the swing. This possibly suggests that their relationship is that of duty or arrangement. The sweeping diagonal lines of her legs as well as the diagonal lines of the rope imply motion and direct the viewer’s eye toward her lover. The Swing is composed in a triangular shape, with her lover and her husband forming the base of the pyramid, and the young woman at the top of the triangle. The implied triangular shape balances the composition by placing the woman in the center with the two male figures on either side.
For this outdoor scene, Jean-Honore Fragonard uses contrast between light and shadow to elevate the illicit story that is unfolding. A soft seductive glow trickles down through the trees and its boughs, which creates a backlight and illuminates the lady on the swing. In contrast, Fragonard uses different values of green hues to conceal the two men opposite each other; as a result, both men are in shadowy corners hidden from one another. A soft white light falls on her lover’s face, which emphasizes their lustful relationship while the husband plays a lesser role and remains in the dark. The use of dramatic light in the center of the composition and its contrasting shadows on either side unite the work as a coherent whole.
Jean-Honore Fragonard uses a delicate color palette of pastel pinks and light blue in the woman’s dress to create contrast from the darker saturated greens of the background. This places emphasis on the lady in the center as the focal point of the composition. The background is painted in cool colors, such as greens and blues, while pastel pink and accents of warm reds add to the theatrics of the piece. Her dress flows and ripples over her body as the arc of the swing reaches its height. Fragonard blends different tints and shades of pink to create the folds and creases of her flowing dress. The variety of colors, implied shapes, and diagonal lines create intrigue and heighten the visual interest of the painting.
The function of both paintings, the Seated Lady in a Garden and The Swing served as lavish items for the aristocrats who commissioned them. For example, The Swing was dictated to Fragonard by the Baron de Saint-Julien and was painted as an intimate memento for the Baron and his mistress. Similarly, In the Seated Lady in a Garden, Oudry’s subject “holds an orange, perhaps a material symbol or a clue to her identity— It has been proposed that she is a member of the house of Orange, which ruled the Netherlands” (citation – be sure to add ). Perhaps this was a noblewoman’s portrait shortly after her arranged marriage to a royal family.
The subject matter in both paintings is a beautiful woman with apparent wealth. In The Swing, the subject is mischievous and playful. Her slipper flings off in the heat of the moment, perhaps symbolizing a loss of innocence or virginity. This action exposes her undergarments allowing her lover a tantalizing view up her skirt. Fragonard’s subject is overtly sexualized and it is clear that a scandalous act is taking place. In contrast, in Seated Lady, the subject’s sexual objectification is subtler. She is painted sitting beside a beautiful parrot; both the subject and the parrot have gazes that mirror one another (and both were kept in gilded cages during this time, literally and metaphorically). Perhaps Oudry is making a correlation with the softness of the bird’s plumage with the implied softness of the female skin. Often parrots were painted as decorative additions to symbolize wealth and travel to distant exotic lands. The content and addition of the parrot reinforce her exoticism, wealth, and connection to the material world.
The visual elements of The Swing and Seated Lady in a Garden share many similarities as well as differences. Both Fragonard and Oudry use curvilinear lines to soften the subjects’ form, accentuating the female body and the softness of their garments. Fragonard uses diagonal lines on the swing’s rope as well as the subject’s legs, which imply motion and direct the viewer’s eye. However, Oudry’s portrait of Seated Lady in a Garden uses vertical lines in the swan-like fountain and the corresponding tree in the background, which expand upward to create grandeur.
Distinct to the Rococo period, Fragonard uses a pastel color palette, which brings a playful energetic tone to the piece. The high value of the pink pastel in her dress is used similarly in Oudry’s piece in that both subjects, through the use of color, are illuminated from the background. Instead of pastel Oudry uses complementary colors such as warm yellows and oranges which react with simultaneous contrast to the saturated blue of her taffeta robe. His use of deeper hues, however, implies a more serious tone than that of Fragonard’s piece.
Balance is achieved in both pieces through the use of symmetry. Oudry places his subject slightly to the left yet the woman appears to be centered. This is because the painter uses relieved symmetry to balance the piece with the addition of the parrot and fountain to her right. Similarly, Fragonard sets his subject at the center of his piece with the two men on either side, which balances the composition. Balance is also achieved through the use of light and shading.
Jean-Honore Fragonard painted his iconic piece The Swing during the later period of what is called Rococo. During this time, the focus shifted away from the monarchy and toward the French aristocracy, which held enormous wealth and political power. Rococo paintings usually depicted scenes of leisure, luxury, and excess. In response, resentment and discontent over the decadence of the French monarchy ultimately gave way to the Age of Enlightenment. During this time, Jean-Baptiste Oudry painted Seated Lady in a Garden. In each of the paintings, there are noticeable similarities and differences in visual elements, which reflect the socio-political climate during each time period. However, a prevailing theme is that of the objectification of women, in which modern society continues to struggle.
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