Cathy's Art Diary

Innovative series of five online talks from the Wallace Collection responding to the recent cleaning of “The Swing” by Fragonard. Yuriko Jackall , Curator of French Painting at the   Wallace Collection, chaired all five events which brought together artists and designers with thinkers to discuss aspects of the painting, the times it was painted in and ideas which still hold today. The title and idea had partly been suggested by the set and costume Simon Bejer is partly about thinking about who is looking at the collection. All the artists referenced going to the gallery and many had directly quoted the 18th century paintings there. The five subjects were the colour pink, identity, fashion, play and the idea of the Libertine. At first sight these seemed an odd collection of themes but they fit really well and led to discussion on a wide range of topics. It’s not a period of history that I know well and I learned a lot about it. I will see a lot more in these pictures in the fut...

Enlightening online lecture from the Wallace Collection looking at the recent cleaning of Fragonard’s The Swing. Yuriko Jackall, a curator at the gallery talked us through what they already knew about the picture and what they discovered after the cleaning. The latter included realising the gentleman pushing the screen was older than they had assumed, finding a fountain with an embracing couple in the background at the top left-hand side and the fact that the man lying in the ground it pulling back the roses he is hiding in or had he fallen. She discussed who the mystery commissioner of the work may have been and the world for which it was created. I am not fond of Rococo work however from this, and a series of talks I have done since based on the painting I have a newfound appreciation of its depth even if I still find it a bit sugary. You can see a revolution coming!