One of the best known images of the 18th century, and one that seems to sum up the gaiety and erotic pull of the Rococo period is Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Swing...
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| The Swing (c.1767) Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Wallace Collection, London) |
The Swing, or to give it the complete title, The Happy Accidents of the Swing shows a beautiful young woman in vibrant petal-pink being pushed on a swing by an elderly gentleman.
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| The elderly husband, seated in the shadows, pulling ropes to swing his vigorous young wife... I wonder if this is also a comment on their sex life? |
Unknown to the old man, her young lover is hidden in the bushes and as she swings over him, she kicks off her shoe, parting her legs. Presumably, the lover is getting a good eyeful of her underwear, or lack therein.
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| Amorous young lover in the foamy-flowered shrubbery... |
The young buck appears to be overwhelmed by the white flowers which may be reminiscent of her petticoats, hinting that he often gets overwhelmed by them as well.
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| The tiny shoe... |
The woman kicks off her shoe as she swings and it arcs towards a figure of Discretion, holding a finger to his lips. This gesture suggests that she is wildly abandoned in her lustful pursuits but also that she has an uncertain relationship with discretion. By teasing one lover so brazenly in front of her husband the girl on the swing is playing a dangerous game. She does not seem to care, but she should be mindful who is pulling the strings in the situation.
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| Tiny cherubs of love... |
The two ting cherubs of love seem to invite a reading that she is in love with her shrub-bound suitor, but as she swings high above them, I think the truth is far more basic. The woman out to provoke lust for which she is amply equipped.
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| The Swing (After Fragonard) (2001) Yinka Shonibare |
When I first fell in love with 18th century art many years ago, Fragonard was my gateway drug. The Swing especially is so overwhelmingly seductive that it continues to be referenced in popular culture, both appropriately and inappropriately. The artist Yinka Shonibare created a life-size version of the scene with a headless mannequin in glorious African printed fabrics replacing the pastels. The focus of our attention is the kicking leg, the flirtation, pointing at the audience, enticing them to take a peek.
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| The Swing featuring Miss Piggy |
Interestingly, the image has been removed from its erotic context and used in quite innocent ways by Disney. First, we have Miss Piggy, swinging with gay abandon among a garden filled with little frogs. Thankfully, Kermit is not hidden in the shrubbery, which I believe would be a little too debauched...
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| Stills from Disney's Frozen |
The whole of the Rapunzel-based Tangled looks like a Rococo dream without the sexual overtones. The palette is a sea of pinks, lavenders and blues, all rendered in pastel perfection as the heroine swings and skips through a rural idyll. However, it was in Frozen that the picture was referenced most clearly as the Princess Anna leaped around the picture gallery mirroring the pictures (see top image with Anna, and bottom image of the painting as Disney envisages it). Interesting the husband in Disney's version is a young man and the girl on the swing has no need of a shrubbery-based lover to satisfy her needs.
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| The Slipper and the Rose (1976) |
Finally, my favourite reference is in the 1976 retelling of Cinderella, The Slipper and the Rose. Although the 2015 Disney live-action Cinderella showed Ella riding a swing in the secret garden, The Slipper and the Rose reproduced the costume to perfection but the scene is one of wistful yearning rather than lustful excess.
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| Valentino fashion shoot from Harper's Bazaar (2002) |
The continuing allure of The Swing is a complex mix of female empowered sexuality, male enjoyment and illicit sex. The woman holds the attention of the two men (not to mention all the men admiring the painting) but her position is as precarious as the swing. In truth she does not control the swing, but she can control the enjoyment she has, the power of her beauty and the adoration of others. Long may she swing!
