Monday, December 31, 2007

Jean-Honore Fragonard, The Lover Crowned, 1773

Madame Du Barry was Louis XV most famous mistress. He built her a chateau in Louveciennes in 1770. Madame Du Barry commissioned Jean-Honore Fragonard to paint four paintings showing The Progress of Love for her new Chateau. They were "The Meeting," "The Declaration of Love," "The Pursuit," and "The Lover Crowned."

Art From Louveciennes, France

I grew up an expat living in France in a quaint little village just west of Paris called Louveciennes. As a little boy, I ran around playing in beautiful fields and on the banks of the Seine. Later in life, I became aware that in the 1800’s famous painters resided in and around Louveciennes and painted this wonderful little village. The most notable of these impressionist painters included Camille Pissarro, Alfred Sisley, Pierre-August Renoir, Maurice de Vlaminck and Claude Monet.