L. HALBOU after Lallie and Fragonard

Le Messager Fidel [&] L’Inspiration Favourable

11 X 13¼ Iinches

A pair of romantic copper plate engravings by L. Halbou after the paintings by Etienne Lallie and Jean-Honoreé Fragonard respectively, published in Paris circa 1780.

In Le messager Fidel an aristocratic young French lady receives a love letter by way of a faithful carrier bird. In L’Inspiration Favourable she is inspired to write to her lover by cupid who whispers in her ear. These prints typify the intense romanticism that swept France prior to the revolution of 1789. Fragonard was perhaps the most famous and influential of the French Rococo school. He studied in Italy and fell under the influence of paintings by Tiepolo and Murillo. He received critical acclaim for a large-scale historical painting but was to abandon this style for the more intimate and romantic settings that were to become his hallmark. Most famous of all, perhaps, is the painting of two lovers in a garden entitled 'The Swing'. This painting was completed in 1767 and can be seen at The Wallace Collection in London.

£1200