Lecture 38: French Art in the 18th Century
in other countries—in architecture in Germany, for example, and in some
paintings made in England. As an example, we see Mrs. Richard Brinsley
Sheridan (c. 1785) by Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788). The subject was
born Elizabeth Linley, a beautiful woman and a leading soprano. In 1773,
she had eloped with Sheridan, the dramatist perhaps best known for The
School for Scandal. This magni¿ cent portrait, brilliantly painted, is placed
in a pastoral setting not unlike Fragonard’s parks but perhaps with a touch
more reality. The asymmetrical design is ultimately derived from Van Dyck’s
portraits. The trees—“all aÀ utter, like a lady’s fan,” as a contemporary wrote
of another Gainsborough—are also comparable to Fragonard’s foliage.In the next lecture, we will follow the course of art from the late 18th into the
early 19th century by looking at three artists, two French and one Spanish. ŶGermaine Boffrand:
Salon de la Princesse, 173740, Hôtel de Soubise, Paris, France.
François Boucher:
The Setting of the Sun and The Rising of the Sun, 1753, oil on canvas, 10’
5” x 8’ 7” (318 x 261 cm), Wallace Collection, London, Great Britain.
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin:
Glass of Water and Coffee Pot, c. 1761, oil on canvas, 12 ¾ x 16 ¼”
(30.5 x 41 cm), Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
Jar of Olives, 1760, oil on canvas, 28 x 38 ½” (71 x 98 cm), Musée du
Louvre, Paris, France.
The Kitchen Maid, 1738, oil on canvas, 18 1/8 x 14 ¾”
(46.2 x 37.5 cm), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA.
Soap Bubbles, probably 1733/1734, oil on canvas, 36 5/8 x 29 3/8”
(93 x 74.6 cm), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., USA.Works Discussed