Declaration of Love
Nicolas Lancret (French, 1690–1743)
c. 1720
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Framed: 103 x 90.5 x 9 cm (40 9/16 x 35 5/8 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 80.1 x 64 cm (31 9/16 x 25 3/16 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
A category of painting invented in France in the early 1700s is the fête galante (gallant party), with subject matter that hovers between fantasy and reality. The figures in theatrical costume derive from Italian street performers seen in Paris, while the playful outdoor garden party connects to leisure activities enjoyed by certain Parisian elites. The arts of conversation, music, and painting—all highly valued by French aristocracy—intersect in this work.
