Painting Detail
Stolen KissArtist: Jean-Honore Fragonard
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 45x55 cm
Date: Late 1780s
Genre: Genre Painting
Source: Collection of the King of Poland, Stanislaw-August Poniatowski, 1895
Fragonard's late period was marked by his careful study of the Dutch 17th-century masters, whose influence is felt in this masterpiece from the 1790s, The Stolen Kiss. The smooth, enamel-like surface of the painting, the blended brushstrokes used to convey the details so precisely, unavoidably recall the work of the Dutch artists Metsu and Terborch. Fragonard lovingly depicts surface texture and the material of which each object is made. Yet the subject itself is a pretty, amusing scene taken from life, with that grace and lightness in the movements of the two heroes which is so typical of French art of the time. The painting lies firmly within the traditions of the rococo style - already being affected by realistic tendencies in the second half of the 18th century.