The Pursuit (The Progress of Love)
Artwork by Jean-Honoré Fragonard • 1771
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About this artwork - painting analysis
A true hymn to gallantry and the seduction games of the eighteenth century, The Pursuit by Jean-Honoré Fragonard captures with verve and sensuality the fleeting moment of an amorous chase in a luxuriant garden. Commissioned around 1771-1772 by Madame du Barry, favorite of Louis XV, to adorn the pavilion of Louveciennes, this monumental canvas over three meters high is part of an ambitious cycle entitled The Progress of Love. It depicts a young gallant who darts in pursuit of his fair one, who feigns escape by rapidly climbing the steps of a stone staircase. The swirling movement of the bodies, the theatrical gestures of the characters, and the vegetative exuberance that envelops them create an irresistible dynamic, typical of Fragonard's genius.
The painter's palette exalts shimmering tones—soft pinks, luminous greens, and subtle gilding—while light diffuses delicately through the foliage, conferring upon the scene an atmosphere both ethereal and carnal. The rapid and flowing brushstrokes, the virtuosic touch characteristic of the rococo master, infuse remarkable spontaneity into the composition. Antique statues, fountains, and architecture evoke an idealized Arcadian setting where nature and art blend harmoniously to celebrate courtly love.
Paradoxically, this masterpiece was rejected by the patron who deemed it too outdated at a time when neoclassicism was gaining influence. Fragonard then recovered all the panels, including The Pursuit, to decorate his own residence in Grasse. It was not until the early twentieth century that American collector Henry Clay Frick acquired the series, now preserved at the Frick Collection in New York, where it remains one of the major attractions.
This work embodies the apotheosis of French rocaille style and testifies to the aristocratic art of living of the Old Regime, immortalizing with wit and refinement a world on the verge of vanishing.
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Image license: faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional public domain work of art.
