1735 · Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Lancret is regarded alongside Jean-Baptiste Pater as the most important representative of the many artists influenced by Watteau, most of whom chose individual motifs or groups from his "fete galante" and made them independent themes. This process alone is indicative of a specific tendency in Rococo: the tendency towards small scale, intimate scenes. In Lancret's painting The Swing we find a highly popular motif of the time, treated not only by Fragonard, Boucher and Pater, but also by lesser painters of the era.Show more