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18th-century France

Works made in France in the 18th century.

75 works · hang 7523 ·

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

Walk this roomRehang this room

Section 1, north wall

  1. Portrait of a Woman, by Jean-Marc Nattier, c. 1748
    Portrait of a WomanJean-Marc Nattier, c. 1748Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. Cupids in Conspiracy, by François Boucher, 1740s
    Cupids in ConspiracyFrançois Boucher, 1740sCourtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. DESIGNS FOR ORNAMENTAL ARABESQUE MOTIFS
    Designs for Ornamental Arabesque MotifsEtienne de Lavallée-Poussin, 1770Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  4. This oval painting shows a cherubic child floating mid-air with one leg bent and their arms outstretched. The cherub has curly hair, a round face, and pale skin dusted with rosy pink and light teal shadows. They are smiling gently. The cherub is nude with a draped cloth over one shoulder, and in one hand they hold a flaming torch. Surrounding the cherub are white birds in flight. The background consists of pale blue and soft white clouds, with blooming pink flowers and foliage on the pale green ground.
    Love as FollyJean Honoré Fragonard, c. 1773/1776Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

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. 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. FIGURES FROM SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING
    Figures from Sistine Chapel ceilingJean-Robert Ango, ca. 1759–70Courtesy of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
  4. 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 2, south 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. Moonlight falls across several masted ships near a rocky shoreline in this horizontal painting. The sky fills the top three-quarters of the picture. A veil of slate-gray clouds is lit to pearl white around the crisp, full moon at the center of the composition. Patches of denim-blue sky are seen through breaks in the blanket of clouds. Moonlight reflects down the center of rippling, silvery-gray water that laps against a beach close to us, along the bottom edge of the painting. A tent is set up in the lower left corner of the composition. There, two women and one man stand looking at a glowing fire next to the tent. One woman holds a basket on her head, the other tucks a flat basket under one arm. The man stands between the two women, and a fourth man crouches near the fire, his back to us. In the opening of the tent, another woman kneels over a large bowl as she looks at the fire. A fifth person, a man, gazes at the fire as he sits smoking a long-stemmed pipe on a boulder. At the foot of the boulders, a man lies back against some bundles, one arm thrown up over his head. A dog curls up next to his hip. Not far from the sleeping man and in the center of the foreground, a man carries several long wooden objects, possibly oars, over one shoulder while a dog beyond him barks at the lapping surf. The beach curves like a C away from us, along the left. At the point of the curve in the middle distance, a structure like a city wall and gate jut out to the water’s edge. More buildings atop steep cliffs rise vertically beyond the gate. The shoreline curves into the distance again, and more buildings, including a lighthouse, and masted ships there are smoke-gray silhouettes. Near the lower right corner of the painting, four men pull on ropes tied around the prow of a small wooden boat while three others push it toward the land. Another man stands in the far end. A short distance beyond that boat is a tall wooden ship with three masts and rigging outlined against the night sky. Windows along the decks of that boat’s wide stern, angled toward us, glow with golden light. Beyond it and a bit to our left, another ship, smaller in scale, sails away from us. Several more ships move back to the horizon until we only see strokes of white and gray to indicate their unfurled sails.
    MoonlightClaude-Joseph Vernet, 1772Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. View of Rome, by Pierre Henri de Valenciennes, c. 1782–84
    View of RomePierre Henri de Valenciennes, c. 1782–84Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art

Section 2, north wall

  1. Germain-Augustin and Rose de Saint-Aubin, Drawn by Their Uncle, by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1766
    Germain-Augustin and Rose de Saint-Aubin, Drawn by Their UncleGabriel de Saint-Aubin, 1766Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. 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
  3. This painting shows a woman in a tan dress and a tan hat with red flowers, walking on a grassy shoreline, holding a dark purple umbrella. The woman is positioned in the center of the painting, and she faces the left, standing at the edge of the water, looking downward. She has light skin and dark hair put up under her hat. The horizon is high in the painting, where the blue-gray sky and water meet. Small ships are visible in the distance, floating on the horizon. On the right side of the painting, the yellow and green ground curves, sloping slightly downward to meet the water. The painting has loose, visible brushstrokes.
    Woman by the SeasideUnrecorded French maker, 19th centuryCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington

Section 3, north wall

  1. Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762–1848), by Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1789
    Comtesse de la Châtre (Marie Charlotte Louise Perrette Aglaé Bontemps, 1762–1848)Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1789Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  2. A work made of etching with roulette in black on ivory wove paper.
    The Forest of RochecardonJean-Michel Grobon, 1800Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago