Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings

October 2, 2009, through January 10, 2010
Image of Seated Young Woman

Rococo and Revolution: Eighteenth-Century French Drawings features more than eighty exceptional drawings almost exclusively from the Morgan's renowned holdings. The efflorescence of the ancien régime and its eventual downfall provide the backdrop to a century of remarkable artistic vitality and variety that subtly chronicles the many changes taking place in eighteenth-century France. Artists represented in the exhibition include among others Antoine Watteau, Jacques-Louis David, François Boucher, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Claude Gillot, Nicolas Lancret, Hubert Robert, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, Anne-Louis Girodet, and Pierre-Narcisse Guérin.

The royal court and wealthy Parisian merchants defined the artistic sensibility of the early decades of the century. This exuberant style, called rococo, eventually assimilated the burgeoning classicism of the Enlightenment. Later, a more formally austere Neoclassicism developed with the triumph of "reason" and the stirrings of the Revolution.

The Rococo initially flourished during the waning years of Louis XIV's reign (r. 1661–1715) and serves as a starting point for the exhibition. Works by artists active at the French Academy in Rome during its greatest years, coinciding with the rule of Louis XV (r. 1715–1774), document the robust role of drawing in artistic practice during mid-century. The exhibition concludes with works executed during the last decades of the ancien régime, under Louis XVI (r. 1774–1792), and the onset of the Revolution, as artists embraced the rigorous Neoclassical style. Contextually, the exhibition also touches on developments and changes in patronage, fashion, theater, and literature in Paris at this time.

This exhibition is made possible by a generous gift from an anonymous donor. Additional support is provided by Nancy Schwartz, Mr. and Mrs. James M. Vaughn, Jr., and Stephen A. Geiger.

Antoine Watteau (1684–1721)
Seated Young Woman, ca. 1716
Black, red, and white chalk
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1911; I, 278a

Selected images

Louis-Roland Trinquesse
(ca. 1745–ca. 1800)

Study of a Lady of Fashion

Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978

François-Hubert Drouais
(1727–1775)

Boy with a Sketchbook

Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978

Carmontelle
(Louis Carrogis 1717–1806)

Portrait of a Lady Seated by a Fire

Purchased on the Walter C. Baker Fund

Louis-Léopold Boilly
(1761–1845)

Portraits of the Artist's Family and Servants

Thaw Collection

Jacques Rigaud
(1681–1754)

Les Dômes

Purchased on the Lois and Walter C. Baker Fund

Louis Nicolas de Lespinasse
(1734–1808)

View of Two Banks of the Seine, Paris

Purchased on the Lois and Walter C. Baker Fund

Charles Joseph Natoire
(1700–1777)

A View of the Top of the Cascade at the Villa Aldobrandini, Frascati

Bequest of Miss Alice Tully

Jean-Baptiste Greuze
(1725–1805)

Anacreon in His Old Age Crowned by Love, before 1762

Bequest of Therese Kuhn Straus in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus

Hubert Robert
(1733–1808)

Draftsman in an Italian Church

Thaw Collection

Pierre-Paul Prud'hon
(1758-1823)

Study for a Portrait of Empress Joséphine, 1805

Bequest of Therese Kuhn Straus in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus

Jean-Baptiste Oudry
(1686–1755)

Meeting at the Carrefour du Puits du Roi, Compiègne forest, or Le Botté du Roi (The Booting of the King), ca. 1733

Purchased on the Edwin H. Herzog Fund with the special assistance of the International Music and Art Foundation

Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin
(1724–1780)

The Lesson of the Chemist Sage at the Hôtel des Monnaies, 1779

Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978

Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson
(1767–1824)

Phaedra Confesses Her Love for Hippolytus to Oenone

Purchased on the Edwin H. Herzog Fund, the Gordon Ray Fund, and as the gift of Mrs. John Hay Whitney

Etienne Louis Boullée
(1728–1799)

Interior of a Library

Thaw Collection

Antoine Watteau
(1684–1721)

Seated Young Woman

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Thaw

Antoine Watteau
(1684–1721)

Temple of Diana

The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York

Gabriel Jacques de Saint-Aubin
(1724–1780)

Momus, 1752

Purchased as the gift of the Fellows

François Boucher
(1703–1770)

Adoration of the Shepherds, ca. 1761–62

Thaw Collection

Antoine Watteau
(1684–1721)

Seated Young Woman

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1911

Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre
(1714–1789)

Le Misanthrope, Act II, scene IV, ca. 1750–55

Purchased as the gift of Joan Taub Ades and on the Lois and Walter C. Baker Fund

Jean-Honoré Fragonard
(1732–1806)

Interior of a Park: The Gardens of Villa d'Este

Thaw Collection