Joys of Motherhood by Fragonard

The Joys of Motherhood by Jean-Honore Fragonard c. 1752 is a large, oil on canvas rendition of a mother pushing her baby in a stroller through a colorful French landscape. The harmonious colors and softened, painterly treatment create a tender image of motherhood in the era of Rococo France. Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was a late Rococo painter of the French Ancien Régime whose works were distinguished by painterly facility and exuberance. Originally a pupil of Chardin, Fragonard produced a large number of works until the growing fashion of neo-classicism and the French Revolution forced him to flee into obscurity. Fragonard’s reputation revived in the late 19th century, when his sense of color, relaxed hedonistic subject matter and painterly brushwork inspired new generations of the Impressionists such as Renoir.