UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX

SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY AND ART HISTORY (SPAH)

AND THE INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES CENTRE (ISC)

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Academic Year: 2017-18

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CLASS TEACHER'S NAME: Natasha Ruiz-Gomez

MODULE CODE: AR115

MODULE TITLE: ART, SEX AND DEATH

WORD COUNT: 2261 WORDS

ESSAY TITLE: FIRST ESSAY

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Practical Criticism: Choose a painting by one of the artists we are covering in

this module; the painting should not have been discussed in class. Subject

the painting to a detailed visual AND contextual analysis. In other words,

describe the forms in the painting and discuss how those forms create

meaning in relation to the moment in which the artwork was created.

The Stolen Kiss (1788) by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

The painting that I will be discussing in this essay is a painting entitled “The Stolen

Kiss” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. This painting was painted in the year 1788 on a

sheet of canvas. The main medium used to paint this painting is oil. The painting is

currently displayed in the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russian

Federation. Fragonard's The Stolen Kiss depicts a pure and naive story of love
during a young lady’s teenage years. The Stolen Kiss depicts a young lady thrown

together in a craze of brisk, unpleasant brushstrokes and It is suggested that only

her face was completed. This shows the use of brush strokes to draw her face. Her

red lips and pinkish cheeks can also be seen while her eyes are staring right at us.

The artist placed emphasis on painting over the whole face of the canvas. A slow-

motion perspective is given to the young lady's life in the painting, from one side of

the painting to the next. From the viewer’s point of view, this loving scene is depicted

to be in slow motion). The stage, for instance, is set between two entryways. The two

entryways show up with reverberating openings. The young lady remains between

the two as if she is being cautious and vigilant. From the painting, it can be seen that

the male’s knee simply pushing in, and with his foot discretely catching the base of

this present young lady's dress. On the right side of the painting, there is an

entryway that gives view to a second room. In this room, a group of ladies are

gathered together. It is suggested that the protagonist belongs to the group of ladies.

However, instead of being with the group, she is with the male protagonist, which is

suggestive that their meeting is a private one and unbeknownst to the ladies in the

other room, quickly getting away from their control. It fosters the idea that the female

protagonist is trying to remove herself from over involvement and asserted control

from the group by meeting with the male protagonist in secrecy. This is one of the

ways the photo is extended. In any case, there is a more personal excursion, moving

along her own self. It starts from the beginning of her kiss and finishes up toward the

finish of her wrap. It sets up a long askew and persistent signal of both body and

texture. It seems as though there is a lot of determination by looking at the position

of the arm amongst the shoulder and waist of the lady. It is suggestive that the kiss

may be unwanted from the lady. In any case, at that point there is the separation
between that wrist and the tip of the cloth. This is where the story starts to

disentangle and gradually end.

The painting by Fragonard is sleek, erotic and has a great attention to detail.

Fragonard omits the visual and unmistakable, and the crude, wet look of his paint

appears to touch his subject. The painting by Fragonard reflects on the time during

the French Rococo period in the 18th century.1 The style used to paint the painting

was supported by the rich and wealthy art patrons of his time.

The Rococo style started in Paris during the mid 18th century. However, later in

France and later in different nations, mainly in Germany and Austria soon adopted

this style.2 It was during the birth of an artistic change in the whole of Europe when

they considered this stage as the modern and advanced age of the 18 th century. The

rise of the middle-income people, also known as the middle class offered a path to a

style called the Rococo Art. This promises wealth and opulence to the middle-class

people. After starting its design in the salon culture of Paris, it would start to appear

in different mediums, for example, works of art. The Rococo craftsmanship style

demonstrated tastefulness and magnificence, describing itself with scenes of

traditional romantic tales and fantastical dreams of sentiment. Such a style was fit for

the French craftsman, Jean-Honore Fragonard, who was known for his perfect works

of art that depicted sentiment in both the purest and the most erotic ways. It is

portrayed by softness, stylishness, and an abundant utilisation of curving in

paintings, characteristic structures in ornamentation. The word Rococo is originated

1
Wildenstein, Georges, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Cecil William Chilton, and A. L. Kitson. The
paintings of Fragonard. Phaidon, 1960.
2
Hopkins, Owen. Architectural styles: a visual guide. Laurence King Publ., 2014.
from the word rocaille. Rocaille can be defined as an 18th-century decoration style

that is characterized by elaborate ornamentation with pebbles and shells. A few

engravers, painters as well as designers, dividers and roofs were embellished with

sensitive interlacing of bends and curves. These bends and curves are shaped into

the shape of a letter "C" and a letter "S".3 These bends are also with formed into

shell frames and other regular shapes. A lopsided way of the design was the way to

go back then. Rococo designers as often as possible utilized mirrors to improve the

feeling of openness. Rococo painting started with the agile, tenderly melancholic

works of art of Antoine Watteau in France. François Boucher then finished in the fun-

loving and arousing nudes of. After that, it is adopted by Fragonard with the

unreservedly painted type of scenes. Jean-Marc Nattier and Jean-Baptiste

Perroneau are examples of handpicked professionals during the French Rococo

style painting era. The paintings during the French Rococo period was said to be

accommodating with meticulous and subtle brushwork, a moderately light toned as

well as having an exotic shading.4

According to Sheriff, when examining these parts of Fragonard's work, opens up the

sexual riddle of numerous an artistic creation that had half shut itself for the viewers

today. Sheriff demonstrates like how an easel painting like the Bathers that offer

ladies an erotic and sexual display which is insistent and applied with thick, attractive

paint touches. Sheriff’s principal concern is to show Fragonard that the portrayal of

sexual subjects isn’t the end yet. However, it is an indication of his connection to

3
Crown, Patricia. "British Rococo as social and political style." Eighteenth-Century Studies 23, no. 3
(1990): 269-282.
4
Holloway, Owen E. French Rococo book illustration. Vol. 46. Tiranti, 1969.
workmanship and a procedure intended to include the person who views it in the

artistic enterprise.5

The Stolen Kiss is in some ways welcoming Watteau and De Troy in its subject of

passionate interest. In the painting, it is seen that young fellow overwhelms the

young lady to take a kiss. By the 1780s Fragonard's canvas style was considerably

less free than that of his lord Boucher, for instance, or his own particular prior work.

In the second 50% of the 18th century, Parisian gatherers were devotedly procuring

seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish type depictions, with their exact brushwork

and consideration regarding refinements of the surface. Fragonard was to a limited

extent reacting to this desire.6

Once in a while, Fragonard portrays such lecturing scenes, however, he is best

associated with pictures of sensuality and tease. The Stolen Kiss painting very

clearly expresses a young fellow overwhelming a young lady to take a kiss.

Fragonard’s canvas painting style was considerably less free than his master

Boucher by the 1780’s, for instance, or his own particular prior work. During the 18th

century, the 17th century Dutch and Flemish type of paintings were passionately

collected by Parisian collectors. This is done with their meticulous brushwork and

attention to detail of the surface. A big role is played by Fragonard for reacting to this

taste for a high-quality painting.7

5
Sheriff, Mary D. Fragonard: art and eroticism. University of Chicago Press, 1990.
6
Bailey, Colin B., Philip Conisbee, and Thomas W. Gaehtgens. The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and
Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting. Yale University Press, 2003.
7
Van Mander, Carel. Dutch and Flemish painters. Arno Press, 1936.
The Stolen Kiss dives into the subject of shrouded sentiment and enthusiastic

minutes snatched in a momentary minute. The painting shows two lovers who were

taking a stealthy kiss while nobody was looking. This shows that the painting

perfectly captures an enduring point in time.The youthful lady is flirtatious, and her

body is seen to be leaning in an inclining manner for a kiss while in the meantime

turning away towards another individual in another room. The figures in the painting

clearly show an exaggeration of an enthusiastic grasp. The young lady’s dress in the

painting is drawn very meticulously with sharp and fine details. This is done to

maintain the tradition of the 1730 architectural style also known as the Rococo style.

The fashion and design turn out to be just about a third character in the painting. 8 In

the potent days before the French Revolution which was around 14 July 1789 to 9

November 1799, this sort of sexual topic was very famous. This is especially obvious

with the French nobility who slumped stylishly around the lobbies of Versailles

uncovering sentimental impudences and of their own. The intriguing look on the

lady’s eyes shows the awareness of the coming commotion. The lady knows that the

perversion would not last for long. Hence, The Stolen Kiss remains as an authentic

antiquity, rising above the limits of unimportant kind sensuality.9

Fragonard’s painting career achieved a milestone when he drew The Stolen Kiss,

consolidating the past and future of his life impact after the devastating hit of the

8
Hatzfeld, Helmut Anthony. The rococo; eroticism, wit, and elegance in European literature. Pegasus,
1972.
9
Brady, Patrick. "The Present State of Studies on the Rococo." Comparative Literature 27, no. 1
(1975): 21-33.
French Revolution. This artistic creation combines the energetically sexual topic of

his prior works.

For the composition of this painting, it can be said that there is a positive stream to

the figures in The Stolen Kiss. The lady is the spotlight, her outward appearance

underlining the stealthy idea of the things she is doing.The lady’s eye is

spontaneously drawn onto her face. Her bust has also been drawn with a smooth

and creamy paint texture. This technique is further used to draw the delicate texture

and arc of the lady’s arm. The hues and colours used in this painting is associated

with pastel textures, velvety and luscious tones on the skin and also very saturated

tones on the wood that characterizes the backdrop of the painting. The blue colour of

the lady’s gown highlights her eyes and gives her a lissom and fine elegance. Her

skin is porcelain and the color scheme lends a rich softness to the proceedings. Her

body indicates something unique to us which is her hips and thighs that are painted

with very smooth curves. Her silk dress is also painted with splendid features and

rich folds. This is her certain unavoidable sexual core interest. In the 1770s to 1780s,

Fragonard swung into more genuine styles of Neoclassicism.10 However, the scene

is restrained and straightforward in composition, with sharp details hidden into the

interior shadow of the room. This is not what a Neoclassicism scene is expected to

be. Both scarf and dress were drawn to incredible attention to detail and are what

catches the eye. An inclining push of gleaming texture is seen between the

entryway, which are reinforced by shades and the lover. The face of the lover and

the eyes of the lady is looking right, guiding us to the focal haziness of the artistic

creation. François Boucher’s palette was utilised by Fragonard, however with colours

10
Irwin, David. Neoclassicism. London: Phaidon, 1997.
that are warmer, impasto and more prominent thoughtfulness regarding surface

effects were also used.11

In this painting, there is a conspicuous difference between the light colours and dark

colours. This shows the artist uses different shades of light to draw his painting. As

the primary focal point of the painting, the youthful lady is enlightened, the glossy silk

folds of her outfit and her flushed, light-complexioned skin featured by a delicately

focused light.

The background of the painting also has shadows that underline the inappropriate

act taking place, isolating the two lovers from everyone else to the right side of the

painting.

The techniques delineated above are used by Fragonard to create a quieted,

intimate representation of a painting room affair. There is a nocturnal sparkle to the

11
Hyde, Melissa Lee, and François Boucher. Making up the rococo: François Boucher and his critics.
Getty Publications, 2006.
scene created by the cool colours and hues where the two lovers are found

incautiously kissing in the room. The cool shades in the painting give an evening

glimmer to the scene. This is done by Fragonard in the painting by blending and

mixing all the painting techniques listed out above.

Fragonard utilised a lot more accurate brushstrokes as compared to his previous

works. The brushstroke still holds its smoothness but the curves on the lady’s arm

are still very evident. This newly discovered meticulousness in painting can

doubtlessly be ascribed to the prevalence during the time of the Dutch Masters.12

Although the aristocracy in Paris left Fragonard with no lack of commissions, the

main scholars at that time had more negative responses to his work. Fragonard’s

works that are obliged to the sexual tastes of the first class people brought him cruel

feedback from savants like Diderot. Diderot was one of the principle planners of the

French Enlightenment. He accused the craftsman of silliness and proposed that he

has somewhat more sense of pride in him.13

12
Chu, Petra ten-Doesschate. "French Realism and the Dutch Masters the Influence of Dutch
Seventeenth-Century Painting on the Development of French Painting Between 1830 and 1870."
(1974).
13
Brewer, Daniel. The discourse of enlightenment in eighteenth-century France: Diderot and the art of
philosophizing. Vol. 42. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Looking into the 20th century, silliness and shallow topics related to Rococo artists

would not be tolerated. This includes Fragonard’s artwork, The Stolen Kiss. During

the Terror in Paris, a lot of his customers passed away and the artists were

overlooked for a period of time. Fragonard’s painting style was neglected for the

moral seriousness of the Neoclassicists.14

In conclusion, the work crafted by Fragonard has been discovered again by an age

group that has a comparable taste for paltriness, especially in the realm of high mold

which flourishes with the ornaments and states of mindset by representations, for

example, The Stolen Kiss. Truth be told, this specific painting is a standout amongst

the most mainstream regarding proliferation and present day home embellishments.

The interest with immoral relationships, like the one portrayed in The Stolen Kiss by

Fragonard, appears to be inborn to human instinct and isn’t an interest that will

cease to exist whenever so.

2261 words

14
Davidson, Lawrence. "Terror in Paris." The Humanist 75, no. 2 (2015): 21.