Nicolas Lancret: Dance before a Fountain (Getty Museum Studies on Art) [Paperback]

Mary Holmes (Author), Mark Leonard (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0892368322 | ISBN-13: 978-0892368327 | Publication Date: April 3, 2006

In a garden glade before a grand fountain, surrounded by a musical party, an elegant woman in a lustrous white gown dances as part of a foursome, raising her eyes to the viewer as if extending an invitation to the dance. This is the enticing scene in the J. Paul Getty Museum's painting "Dance before a Fountain" by Nicolas Lancret (1690-1743), an excellent example of the fete galante, a genre that was created and reached the peak of its popularity in France during the first half of the eighteenth century. This monograph seeks to familiarize American audiences with Lancret, a master of this genre, who was a revered painter in his own time, rivalling his contemporaries Antoine Watteau and Francois Boucher, and a favourite of crowned heads across Europe. Mary Tavener Holmes's engrossing text uses this painting as a springboard to reveal a remarkable amount about the painter, his mode of painting, Paris at the time this work was made, eighteenth-century dance, and the world of art patronage and collecting in France and elsewhere in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Lavishly illustrated with comparative paintings by artists such as Watteau, Boucher, Peter Paul Rubens, Jean-Francois De Troy, Jean-Baptiste Oudry, and Hubert Robert, this fascinating peek into a bygone Parisian era is a treat for the eyes and the intellect alike.

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: J. Paul Getty Museum (April 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892368322
• ISBN-13: 978-0892368327
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,311,500 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Mary Tavener Holmes was graduated with a MA and PhD from the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. For more than 30 years, she has worked as a curator, author and teacher in the field of European art, specializing in eighteenth-century French drawings and paintings. She is the author of numerous publications on that subject, including Nicolas Lancret: Dance before a Fountain and A Magic Mirror: The Portrait in France, 1700-1900, with George T.M. Shackelford. She has written several award-winning children's books, including My Travels with Clara and A Giraffe goes to Paris (with John Harris). She lives in New York city with her three kids and two cats, and she loves the Yankees!