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18th-century France

Works made in France in the 18th century.

75 works · hang 7228 ·

The rooms are imagined; every work on their walls is real.

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north wall

  1. The painting depicts three children within an oval frame, their upper bodies visible. The central child, a young girl, is positioned with her body facing forward and her head turned slightly to the left. She has a fair complexion, with rosy cheeks, pink lips, and wide brown eyes. Her hair is gray and partially pulled back by a blue ribbon. She is dressed in a white garment with a yellow shawl draped over her shoulders. Her arms are outstretched, holding the ends of a cloth that has been pinned on her dress. Her arms and the cloth extend forward beyond the oval frame that encircles the trio, as if the frame is a window or porthole that she is reaching out of. On the right, a boy leans on the girl's shoulder, also facing to the left, seen in profile. He has light brown, curly hair and a fair complexion. He wears a dark blue-green jacket over a white collar, and he is looking upward towards the third child. On the left, another boy, who also has light skin and light brown curly hair, appears to stand on a chair above the other two children. He is holding a long yellow straw up to his lips. At the other end of the straw, a large bubble hangs over the white cloth that the girl holds out. In his other hand is a small white dish. He wears a muted brown outfit with a dark cloth wrapped around him. The background within the frame is plain gray, and the frame that surrounds the children is light gray and appears to be carved with leaf designs. Beyond the oval frame is gray.
    Soap BubblesCharles Amédée Philippe Van Loo, 1764Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on canvas.
    Appenine LandscapeFrançois Le Moyne, c. 1730Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Portrait of a Woman, by Jean-Marc Nattier, c. 1748
    Portrait of a WomanJean-Marc Nattier, c. 1748Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  4. FIGURES FROM SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING
    Figures from Sistine Chapel ceilingJean-Robert Ango, ca. 1759–70Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Section 1, south wall

  1. 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
  2. Chalk drawing with red and black shading of man carrying crate and pack.
    The Old SavoyardAntoine Watteau, c. 1715Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. This is a painting of animals in front of a ruined structure. The painting features a cat, a weasel, and a small rabbit gathered on a patch of grass. The cat has its paw over the rabbit, with the weasel observing. They are in front of an ancient stone structure surrounded by vegetation. In the background are trees against a sky. The foreground has detailed foliage and flowers.
    Le chat, la balette et le petit lapin (The Cat, the Weasel, and the Rabbit)Martin Marvie, published 1756Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  4. A man wearing loose, ivory-white clothing stands flanked by two groups of people in this horizontal painting. All the people have pale or peachy skin except for one person, who may have a brown mask. The man in the center, representing the character Pierrot, stands facing us with his hands by his sides. He has slightly bulging eyes, a bulbous nose, ruddy cheeks, and his full pink lips slightly smile. He wears a straw hat pushed back on his high forehead and a narrow ruffled collar around his neck. His shirt has long, voluminous sleeves and a row of small white buttons down the front. The pants are baggy and end abruptly above his white-stockinged ankles over white slippers. The fabric seems to have a sheen. In the shallow space behind him, a stone wall curves toward us to either side of a doorway that leads to a park-like setting. A crimson-red curtain is pulled to our right. Pierrot stands on the top of two steps, and the people to either side are arranged along the stage or the step that runs close to the bottom edge of the canvas. A spray of white flowers drapes down the front of the steps to our right of center. The group to our left has eight men, women, and children. Closest to us and in the lower left corner, a young man wearing a tomato-red jester’s costume trimmed with bells sits on the steps as he twists and looks back at the scene behind him. He holds a scepter or puppet in the shape of a doll-like jester. Two children gather at his feet. One weaves stems of white flowers together, and the other looks at us, smiling. Just above them another cleanshaven young man sits holding a lute in his lap. He wears a brick-red coat, brown breeches, and slate-blue stockings over crossed legs. He leans back and looks up and to our left, his round cheeks flushed. At the back of this group, two people wear tan-colored costumes covered in muted green and pink diamond shapes, and one might wear a brown mask. That person’s pink lips, black mustache and eyebrows, and black dots for eyes appear painted onto a hard, molded surface. The group of six people to our right stand on the same level as Pierrot. At the front of that group, a heavyset young man wears a gold-colored costume trimmed with black and a waist-length, Wedgewood-blue cape. He faces us but looks to our right as he leans back with one arm extended toward Pierrot. Beyond him are two woman and another person shown only from the neck up. The woman closest to Pierrot wears a pewter-gray gown with a scooped neckline. To the right of the man in gold is an old man with a long beard, wearing a black skullcap and cloak. He leans on a short staff and turns his head to look at the group. The last person on the far right is shown from the neck up and stands before the red curtain hanging from the upper right.
    The Italian ComediansAntoine Watteau, probably 1720Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 2, south 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. Painting of bearded, ruddy-faced man in eighteenth century style clothing.
    Portrait of a Man in CostumeJean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1767–68Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. A woman sitting in an upholstered chair near a vanity table touches the hair of the little girl leaning against her lap to our left, as a man leans onto the back of her chair to our right in this vertical portrait painting. The people all have pale skin, flushed cheeks, and their pale gray hair is pulled back and curled. Their pink lips curve in slight smiles, and light glinting off of much of the fabric suggests they wear satin or silk. The woman’s body is angled to our left, toward the girl, but she turns her head back to look up over her other shoulder with gray eyes. A voluminous, cream-white cloth drapes over her shoulders and lap, over a bodice covered in lilac-purple bows and ribbons. Her gold satin skirt falls around her feet. The little girl leans onto one arm on the woman’s lap as she turns to look at us with pale blue eyes. The girl’s forget-me-not-blue dress has a fitted bodice, elbow-length sleeves over white cuffs, a long, full skirt, and white ruffles along the collar. The woman holds blue flowers in the girl’s hair, and the girl’s forearm wraps around a bundle of pink and red flowers in the woman’s lap. The chair is upholstered in teal blue and has a gold frame and a row of gold nail heads along the padded back and arm. The man leans one forearm against the back of the chair as he looks down at the girl. In that hand, he holds a folded piece of paper with writing. He wears a loose jacket decorated with gold pagodas, pink and yellow flowers, and spruce-green leaves against a brown background. Foamy white lace falls back from his cuffs and hangs down from the high white collar of his undershirt. He wears brick-red, knee-length britches, white stockings, and black shoes with silver buckles. His other hand is planted against his hip, and one ankle is crossed in front of the other. A vanity draped with a white cloth sits on the far side of the woman and girl, along the left edge of the painting. It holds gold and glass vessels and boxes, and a rounded mirror at the back is draped with dark pink cloth. The lower half of a window behind the vanity is covered by a white cloth, and the panes continue beyond the top of the canvas. A teal-blue curtain hangs along the right edge of the window, at the corner of the room. A clock with a gold case of swirling, carved designs hangs high on the peanut-brown wall behind the man. On the floor near the chair, blue and white striped tissue paper, a rose-pink ribbon, and a strand of pearls drape over the edges of an open box. Writing along the front edge of the lid of the box reads, “Fs. Drouais. Ce 1 avril. 1756.” A pink rose lies near the girl’s feet, to our left.
    Family PortraitFrançois Hubert Drouais, 1756Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 2, 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. Soap Bubbles, by Jean Siméon Chardin, ca. 1733–34
    Soap BubblesJean Siméon Chardin, ca. 1733–34Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. 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

Section 3, north wall

  1. A young woman and two children are shown from the waist up through an oval, stone opening, holding and looking at a wooden box with a lens protruding from one side in this square painting. All three people have pale skin with rosy cheeks. To our right, the young woman’s body is angled to our left as she braces the torso of a young girl. The young woman looks at us from the corners of her sage-green eyes, under lifted brows. Her small, pink mouth is pursed in a slight smile, and she has a faint dimple in her rounded chin. Her heather-gray hair is partially plaited over the crown of her head, and long curls fall over her shoulders. She wears a spruce-blue shawl over the shoulders of her low-cut, olive-green dress. The child she braces has chubby cheeks, and her wavy blond hair is brushed back from her forehead and falls loosely to her shoulders. She wears a blush-pink dress with ruffles on the half-length sleeves and gossamer-white trim around the neckline and cuffs. The top and side rails of a wooden, ladderback chair up against the inside of the opening suggests she stands or kneels on a backward-facing chair. She rests her left hand on the edge of the stone opening and her other hand on the wrist of the boy standing close behind her. Mostly in the shadow behind the others, the boy has small, pointed features and short, curly, sable-brown hair. He wears a tan coat, and a muted blue scarf is tied at his throat. The two children gaze at the wooden box the boy holds, which is about the size of a toaster. A short, cylindrical, brass-lined lens pokes out of the center of the side facing the trio. The oval opening through which we see them is carved on our side with stylized leaves and berries, and the wall around it is the same elephant gray as the carvings. The girl and the box cast a shadow across the opening. The artist signed and dated the painting in the lower left corner, “Amedee Can Loo./1764.”
    The Camera ObscuraCharles Amédée Philippe Van Loo, 1764Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. 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