Source In this image, the lovers – an earnest young man climbing up a ladder and a willowy girl with flowers in her hair and plunging décolletage – meet, presumably in secret. Was the earnest lover too indiscreet an allusion to her own, Louis XV? Critics have made much of the upward thrust of the trees – is the couple’s desire so evident that even the trees appear aroused? The image is in the Public Domain, and tagged Love, Gardens and The Progress of Love. For whatever reason, Fragonard was left holding on to his creations for another twenty years. The Progress of Love: Love Letters. The Progress of Love was a transatlantic collaboration between Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Menil Collection in Houston, and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos in Nigeria. These rustic protagonists in billowing silks have nothing to do with realism or classical rigour but embody the carefree pastoral charm of the Rococo and pre-Revolutionary French art. The history of these paintings—one of the most powerful evocations of love in the history of art—is linked with the career of the Comtesse du Barry, the last mistress of Louis XV. The three concurrent but unique exhibitions that made up The Progress of Love constituted a narrative arc addressing love as an ideal, love as a lived experience, and love as something lost. Title: The Progress of Love Artist: Antoine Pierre Mongin (French, Paris 1761/62–1827 Versailles) Date: 1803 Medium: Brush and brown wash over black chalk underdrawing, framing lines in pen and black ink Dimensions: sheet: 16 9/16 x 21 5/8 in. The three concurrent but unique exhibitions that made up The Progress of Love constituted a narrative arc addressing love as an ideal, love as a lived experience, and love as something lost. What could American robber barons Henry Clay Frick and J. Pierpont Morgan and famed courtesan Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, all have in common? Sunday, 10am–5pm, Location: The Progress of Love: Love Letters Jean-Honore Fragonard Frivolous, colorful and gay, the works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard float into a spectator's sensory consciousness like pastel confections straight from a Parisian bakery on a spring day. Yet, for all their beauty and passion, Madame du Barry soon returned the canvases to the artist and ordered replacements from another. Like the best of Fragonard’s work, the painting is playful yet sincere, filled with erotic possibilities. The Progress of Love was a transatlantic collaboration between Pulitzer Arts Foundation, The Menil Collection in Houston, and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos in Nigeria. Why did Madame du Barry reject such a delightful cycle? Please let us know how we're doing. Central to The Progress of Love was the recognition that this most natural and universal of emotions has actually evolved over the centuries, finding different expressions, meanings, and norms in different circumstances. In fact, by the 1770s the heyday of the Rococo was over. Then, adding seven more canvases, he installed the series in a cousin's villa in southern France. They were acquired by Frick in 1915 and installed in a room specially designed for them. Yinka Shonibare, MBEAddio del Passato, 2011Courtesy of James Cohan Gallery, New York and ShanghaiLower South GalleryPhotograph by Sam Fentress, The Modern Art Notes Podcast: Conversation with Sophie Calle, Open Hours: The history of these paintings—one of the most powerful evocations of love in the history of art—is linked with the career of the Comtesse du Barry (1743-1793), the last mistress of Louis XV (1710-1774). For a pleasure pavilion she commissioned from the architect Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (1736-1806) in 1771, the countess ordered from Fragonard four canvases depicting "the four ages of love." ‘The Progress of Love The Pursuit’ was created in 1773 by Jean-Honore Fragonard in Rococo style. He then paid over a million more to create the perfect Rococo drawing room for them in his Fifth Avenue home, where they remain today. Thursday, 10am–5pm Some have suggested the paintings simply didn’t fit in the room for which they were intended. Perhaps the way the trees split behind the statue is intended to let the viewer know that the resolution of their love is not yet sure? Find more prominent pieces of genre painting at Wikiart.org – best visual art database. At the Pulitzer, the exhibition brought together works by four contemporary artists living in Africa, Europe, and the United States to offer a range of perspectives on the final stage of love’s inevitable narrative—the loss of love, and what we do without it. Despite its somewhat staged nature, the scene is spontaneous and sweet without being saccharine. After the Revolution (in which Madame du Barry lost her head), Fragonard tried to remake his style to fit the new Neo-Classical taste but without success; he died almost forgotten in 1806. They passed through the collection of J. P. Morgan, where they were displayed in his London house. But it is Fragonard’s fluid style full of the exuberance and curiosity of the French Enlightenment that makes this cycle one of the outstanding achievements of 18th-century French decorative painting. The intriguing story behind the commission, rejection, and rehousing of Fragonard’s paintings is brought to life by Colin B. Bailey, former Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator at the Frick (now Director of the Morgan Library and Museum) in an updated video produced in 2013. Around 1771, Madame du Barry commissioned celebrated Rococo artist Fragonard to create a decorative cycle for a new pavilion in the garden of her château at Louveciennes. The series advances in the following order: from a flirtatious proposal (a young man offers a girl a rose), to a furtive meeting (the lover scales the wall of a garden), to consummation or marriage (the girl crowns her lover with roses), to the calm enjoyment of a happy union (the reading of love letters). Bailey leads viewers through the narrative of the Progress of Love, revealing the rich 3716 Washington Boulevard While there are countless alluring examples of love art, we've compiled a collection of 5 romantic paintings and sculptures that stand out from the rest and prove that art and love are a perfect match. The Progress of Love presumably follows a chronological order of the stages of love and relationships. Around 1771, Madame du Barry commissioned celebrated Rococo artist Fragonard to create a decorative cycle for a new pavilion in the garden of her château at Louveciennes. Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Progress of Love: The Meeting by Dr. Steven Zucker and Dr. Beth Harris Jean-Honoré Fragonard, The Progress of Love: The Meeting , 1771-1773, oil on canvas, 317.5 x 243.8 cm (The Frick Collection, New York)