Floor plan

Time and place18th-century France

18th-century France

Twenty-one men in long waistcoats and women in elegantly trimmed gowns gather and dance within a verdant landscape in this horizontal painting. The men wear jackets and breeches in ginger brown, pale pink, or spruce blue. The women’s gowns have full sleeves, tight-fitting bodices, and full skirts in shades of bronze, teal blue, butterscotch gold, or rich pink edged with ribbons and lace. Some of them wear floral wreaths or ribbons in their upswept hair. Groups gather around a woman and man who dance together to our left in the scene. Some in the group of onlookers to our left hold musical instruments, including a violin and a pipe. Another group is nestled among trees just beyond the dancers, at the center of the painting, and more sit and stand to our right. The dancing woman wears a gleaming, ice-blue gown with rows of flowers in muted pink, blue, and gold down the full skirt and around the bottom hem, which falls short of her thin ankles. More garlands cross her chest and shoulders, and flowers are tucked into her dark gray hair. She faces us with her head turned to our right as she looks off in that direction with dark eyes under curving brows. She has a delicate nose, rosy, round cheeks, and pink lips. She holds her arms spread wide with the thumb touching the index finger of each hand. The man with whom she dances wears a coral-red tunic and breeches with sleeves decorated with pale pink and blue ribbons. The brim of his brown hat is turned up. His body faces us but he turns his head to look at the woman, his lips parted. The man and woman each have one gracefully pointed foot raised. The dancers and groups are enclosed within a park-like setting with tall trees to either side, and a screen of trees across the back of the space. The trees have slender trunks and canopies in shades of pine, sage, and moss green. Near the back middle of the scene, a stone column topped by a human head wearing a wreath of laurel leaves rises above the central group. A fountain with a vertical jet of water is tucked into the shadows within a grove of trees along the right edge of the painting. The water falls into a pool in the lower right corner.
A work made of oil on canvas.
Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl, by Louis Jean Desprez, c. 1779–84
A work made of oil on canvas.
The image shows a sketch of an architectural scene with structures lining a road or pathway. The horizon is not clearly defined, and the sketch focuses on architectural details. The drawing features loose, freehand lines outlining buildings and trees, with classical elements like columns and entablatures. The color palette is monochromatic, with light parchment and dark ink strokes creating contrast. Close-up details are lightly shaded for depth, while distant details are less defined. The composition is open and airy, emphasizing architectural features over precision.
Study of a Seated Woman Seen from Behind (Marie-Gabrielle Capet), by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1789
Soap Bubbles, by Jean Siméon Chardin, ca. 1733–34

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

Works made in France in the 18th century.

Section 1, north wall

  1. Twenty-one men in long waistcoats and women in elegantly trimmed gowns gather and dance within a verdant landscape in this horizontal painting. The men wear jackets and breeches in ginger brown, pale pink, or spruce blue. The women’s gowns have full sleeves, tight-fitting bodices, and full skirts in shades of bronze, teal blue, butterscotch gold, or rich pink edged with ribbons and lace. Some of them wear floral wreaths or ribbons in their upswept hair. Groups gather around a woman and man who dance together to our left in the scene. Some in the group of onlookers to our left hold musical instruments, including a violin and a pipe. Another group is nestled among trees just beyond the dancers, at the center of the painting, and more sit and stand to our right. The dancing woman wears a gleaming, ice-blue gown with rows of flowers in muted pink, blue, and gold down the full skirt and around the bottom hem, which falls short of her thin ankles. More garlands cross her chest and shoulders, and flowers are tucked into her dark gray hair. She faces us with her head turned to our right as she looks off in that direction with dark eyes under curving brows. She has a delicate nose, rosy, round cheeks, and pink lips. She holds her arms spread wide with the thumb touching the index finger of each hand. The man with whom she dances wears a coral-red tunic and breeches with sleeves decorated with pale pink and blue ribbons. The brim of his brown hat is turned up. His body faces us but he turns his head to look at the woman, his lips parted. The man and woman each have one gracefully pointed foot raised. The dancers and groups are enclosed within a park-like setting with tall trees to either side, and a screen of trees across the back of the space. The trees have slender trunks and canopies in shades of pine, sage, and moss green. Near the back middle of the scene, a stone column topped by a human head wearing a wreath of laurel leaves rises above the central group. A fountain with a vertical jet of water is tucked into the shadows within a grove of trees along the right edge of the painting. The water falls into a pool in the lower right corner.
    La Camargo DancingNicolas Lancret, c. 1730Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Alexander at the Tomb of Cyrus the GreatPierre Henri de Valenciennes, 1796Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Tomb with Sphinxes and an Owl, by Louis Jean Desprez, c. 1779–84
    Tomb with Sphinxes and an OwlLouis Jean Desprez, c. 1779–84Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 1, south wall

  1. A work made of oil on canvas.
    The White TableclothJean Siméon Chardin, c. 1731–32Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  2. The image shows a sketch of an architectural scene with structures lining a road or pathway. The horizon is not clearly defined, and the sketch focuses on architectural details. The drawing features loose, freehand lines outlining buildings and trees, with classical elements like columns and entablatures. The color palette is monochromatic, with light parchment and dark ink strokes creating contrast. Close-up details are lightly shaded for depth, while distant details are less defined. The composition is open and airy, emphasizing architectural features over precision.
    Ancient Ruins on the Bank of the TiberAugustin Pajou, 1752/1756Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. Study of a Seated Woman Seen from Behind (Marie-Gabrielle Capet), by Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1789
    Study of a Seated Woman Seen from Behind (Marie-Gabrielle Capet)Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, 1789Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  4. Soap Bubbles, by Jean Siméon Chardin, ca. 1733–34
    Soap BubblesJean Siméon Chardin, ca. 1733–34Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, south wall

  1. Mezzetin, by Antoine Watteau, ca. 1718–20
    MezzetinAntoine Watteau, ca. 1718–20Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of etching in black on ivory laid paper.
    Portrait of Le Roi MaratViller, c. 1795Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Portrait of Constance PipeletJean Baptiste François Désoria, 1797Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  4. Marie Emilie Coignet de Courson (1716–1806) with a Dog, by Jean Honoré Fragonard, ca. 1769
    Marie Emilie Coignet de Courson (1716–1806) with a DogJean Honoré Fragonard, ca. 1769Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. The image shows an illustration of a rocky terrain with towering stone formations and dense foliage. The sky is textured and the scene is created using an etching technique with intricate linework. There are two figures in the scene, one appearing to climb or position near a rock, while the other observes. The color palette is monochromatic, using black on a white background to depict depth and dimension in the artwork.
    Landscape with a Fallen Tree (Paysage à l'arbre cassé)Hubert Robert, 1764Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Cupids in Conspiracy, by François Boucher, 1740s
    Cupids in ConspiracyFrançois Boucher, 1740sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. A pale-skinned man sits facing our left as he plays a harp while turning his face to smile at us in this vertical portrait painting. He looks out the corners of his light blue eyes under arched, gray brows. He has a rounded nose, pale pink lips, and a round face. Gray hair is brushed back from his high forehead and curls around his ears. His long fingers rest on the strings of the harp, and the ends of strings curl like wind-loosened strands of hair along the top edge. The man wears a pale mauve-purple cravat, and his snow-white, long-sleeved chemise is untucked and loose around his thighs. The cuff we see is open and folded back over a bright white shirt edged with lace. His dusky rose-pink breeches are unbuttoned at the knee over white stockings. The square-seated chair on which he sits is carved with garlands and floral patterns, which are gilded gold. The seat itself is topaz blue, and it has a low back. A similarly ornamented and gilded table along the back of the room holds a portfolio and roll of papers, the tooled and gilded spines of books, and a statuette to the right. The pale pinkish-orange statuette shows a woman holding a tablet and wearing a long, loose robe and head covering. Her body angles to our left and she looks off in that direction. The wall behind the table is mottled with smoky shades of gray and tan.
    Ange Laurent de La Live de JullyJean Baptiste Greuze, probably 1759Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 3, north wall

  1. A young woman draws on an oval surface with white chalk while three winged, baby-like putti gather nearby, all on a bank of pale pink clouds in this horizontal painting. The woman and putti have pale, rosy skin, flushed cheeks, and hazel-brown eyes. To our left, the woman reclines with her upper body propped up on her far elbow, which rests on a steel-blue cushion as her legs stretch out to our right. Her light brown hair is braided and wrapped across the top of her head. She wears a loose, seafoam-green robe over a billowing ivory-white garment that has slipped off the shoulder closer to us. A round paint palette with brushes sticking out of its thumb hole and a roll of blue and white paper sit in the lower left corner, behind the woman. The woman and the objects are on a red cloth. In front of the woman is a rounded surface, perhaps a canvas, on which she draws. She holds up a gold-colored stylus with her right hand, closer to us, with a pointed piece of white chalk in one end and black chalk in the other. The canvas is taller than her head, so the child-like putto she draws on it is life-sized. The three nude putti on the far side of the canvas have copper or golden-blond, curly hair, flushed, rounded cheeks, short wings in white or peacock blue, pudgy torsos, and dimpled limbs. One putto, presumably the one the woman draws, sits back on the bank of clouds with a carnation-pink sash across his chest. He pulls his chin back and looks at her from under his eyebrows. He holds a gold-colored torch with a pink flame in one hand, and the other hand rests near a cylindrical quiver of arrows. Another putto peeks around the side of the canvas, and the third stands and props the canvas up. That third putto holds up a wreath of laurel leaves up over the canvas, above the woman’s drawing hand. The bank of clouds is parchment-brown with muted pink and blue highlights against a vivid blue sky. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “F Boucher – 1765.”
    Allegory of PaintingFrançois Boucher, 1765Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Portrait of Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Adelaide Le Normand, by François Dumont, c. 1793
    Portrait of Mademoiselle Marie-Anne Adelaide Le NormandFrançois Dumont, c. 1793Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art