In a Fragonard Neighborhood – Sunset, Friday, 27 June 2014

William Van Doren, IN A FRAGONARD NEIGHBORHOOD. Sunset from Hilltop Road, Charlottesville, Va. Oil on Arches, 17 x 23.

I was in an old Charlottesville area near the junction of Blue Ridge Road and Hilltop, and while the French court painter Fragonard might have found the homes not quite grand by Versailles standards, and the architecture just a bit Anglo, the places are plenty nice, and with the great trees and big sky I was reminded of his work, or of the world suggested by it. I love all that romantic Fragonard and Boucher stuff and I don’t care who knows it. Anyone who paints the clouds and trees of high summer — not to mention beautiful women on a swing — is alright by me.