The first exhibition devoted entirely to the work of this long-neglected French Rococo master who during his lifetime was one of Europe’s most celebrated artists. The prolific Lancret was a favorite of Louis XV and Frederick the Great as well as of international nobility, but during the nineteenth century he fell under the shadow of his mentor Antoine Watteau. Lancret in fact had a singular and brilliant talent of his own, as this exhibition demonstrated. Included in the exhibition were twenty-eight paintings and fourteen drawings lent by museums and private collections in the United States and abroad. Along with such well-known works as La Camargo Dancing, Luncheon Party in a Park, The Four Times of Day, and The Birdcage, many less familiar examples of Lancret's art were shown.
Detail of catalogue cover.