Nicolas Lancret, 1690 Paris - 1743 ibid., circle of the

THE PARK CONCERT
Oil on canvas. Doubled.
69 x 94 cm.
In a particularly vividly emphasized and gilded frame with rocailles and volutes.

In front of an antique-style portico with Corinthian columns, a park staircase flanked by sphinxes leads to a green area lined with bushes. There, next to a fountain with a spout held by putti, is a seated courtly lady holding a music book and apparently singing in the company of a nobleman playing the lute.

Nicolas Lancret was a French genre painter. Although he was also a talented draughtsman and initially pursued a career in engraving, he left this behind to devote himself to painting. In the studio of the artist Claude Gillot (1673-1722), he became friends with Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), who influenced both Lancret's style and his choice of subject matter. Watteau encouraged him to paint outside the studio as well. He joined the Paris Academy in 1719 and from then on specialized in genre painting, above all in fêtes galantes, a genre invented by the Academy especially for Watteau. The present painting is one of the many he painted to decorate the rooms of the nobility, including rooms for Louis XV. His cheerful painting style testifies to the carefree nature of the aristocratic class of the time, who indulged in the gallant pleasures of life. (1400147) (13)