More from France

Here are more items in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art dating from the eighteenth century when France was the trendsetter in luxurious living among the aristocracy...

We imagine the nobility of that era leading a frivolous, "let them eat cake" lifestyle, and much of the art reinforces that image.  The Baroque style gave way to the highly ornamental Rococo style.  In the early 1700s many paintings belong to a category known as "fete gallante" (gallant party) which portray a carefree aristocracy at leisure.

"Dancers in a Pavilion" by Jean Baptiste Pater

"The Declaration of Love" by Nicolas Lancret

These cutesy paintings by Francois Boucher are entitled "Cupids in Conspiracy" and "Music and Dance".

Boucher also did this painting called "The Fountain of Venus".

"Sleep" by Jean Bernard Restout

The winged, nude figure with poppies (the source of opium) is Morpheus, the god of sleep.

Of course every aristocrat had to have his or her portrait painted.

Jean Gabriel de Theil, the secretary of foreign affairs for King Louis XV, as painted by Jaques-André-Joseph Aved.

Or you could be immortalized in a realistic bust.

"Portrait of Melle de Vandeul" by Jean Baptiste Lemoyne the Younger

This carpet was made for the dining room of one of King Louis XV's chateaux.  In the center is the coat of arms of France topped with a crown with eagle wings.

A grouping of 18th century furniture

A tall clock from1744

The clock movement included a music box.

The chest of drawers has Oriental decoration. On top of it are a pair of covered vases from the Meissen Porcelain Factory in Germany.

Another chest of drawers with an Oriental motif.  The pieces of porcelain are from China.  Above is a portrait of the Marquise d'Aguirandes painted by Francois Hubert Drouais.

Not every work of art from the era was extravagant.  This humble still life by Jean Simeon Chardin is entitled "Kitchen Utensils with Leeks, Fish and Eggs".

The stark realistic detail of Jean Baptiste Oudry's "A Hare and a Leg of Lamb" is influenced by the scientific rationality of the Enlightenment.  A painting such as this might have hung in hunting lodge.

"Head studies" were an important part of a painter's artistic education.  They gave an artist practice in painting facial expressions.  This study of a shepherd was done by an unknown painter.

Supposedly King Louis XV remarked, "Apres moi, le deluge -  After me, the deluge", a premonition of the events that were to shake Europe before the end of the century.