Love the Sentinelc. 1773/1776
Cupid stands in a flowering garden with a golden arrow in his hand, his quiver lying in the grass and two white doves flying overhead, as if keeping watch over lovers just out of sight. More about this work
About this work
Cupid stands in a flowering garden with a golden arrow in his hand, his quiver lying in the grass and two white doves flying overhead, as if keeping watch over lovers just out of sight. The small oval forms a pair with Love as Folly, in which the god of love flies off with reckless abandon; here he is the watchful guardian. Fragonard painted both in the mid-1770s with the fluid brushwork and soft pinks and greens of his most playful decorative style.
Written by Ochre Editions.
What you’re looking at
This oval painting depicts a cherubic child in a garden setting. The child is standing with one foot in front of the other and has small wings on their back. The child has light skin, curly blond hair, rosy cheeks, and a playful expression. They are mostly nude, except for a cloth that wraps around their back and covers their groin. The child is holding a golden arrow. They are standing in front of a light green bush with pink flowers. In the bottom left, there is a dark blue object in the green grass that looks like a torch or cylindrical quiver. The setting includes lush greenery and more clusters of pink and white flowers. The background features a pastel blue sky with soft pink clouds and two white doves flying above.
Description from the National Gallery of Art.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Jean Honoré Fragonard
French, 1732–1806 · Born in Grasse; died in Paris.
Fragonard studied with Chardin and then Boucher, won the Prix de Rome and spent five years in Italy, where he drew the gardens of the Villa d’Este. Back in Paris he largely set aside official commissions to paint for private collectors: playful love scenes such as The Swing, rapidly brushed “fantasy figures” and luminous landscapes. The Revolution ended the taste for his art, and he spent his last years as an administrator of the new national museum at the Louvre.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The National Gallery of Art has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 1970.17.112
- Credit
- Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
- Type
- Painting
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
Report this work
More by Jean Honoré Fragonard
All their works
Close in colour
