# The Swing [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [FRAGONARD, Jean-Honoré]() - Date: 1751-1800 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 81 x 64 cm ## Commentary The painting was originally commissioned from a serious history painter by an unknown French nobleman \(he was not the Baron the St Julien as has been assumed in the past\): 'I desire', he said, 'that you should paint Madame \(pointing to his mistress\) on a swing which is being set in motion by a Bishop. You must place me where I can have a good view of the legs of this pretty little thing....'. The serious history painter could think of nothing else to say except to recommend M. Fragonard as a more suitable executant. You can view <A onclick="return OpenOther\('/cgi-bin/search.cgi?author=&title=The+AND+%28Swing&comment=&time=any&school=any&form=any&type=any&location=&header=0&other=0&caption=Representations+of+the+motif+The+Swing'\)" HREF="/cgi-bin/search.cgi?author=&title=The+AND+%28Swing&comment=&time=any&school=any&form=any&type=any&location=&header=0&other=0&caption=Representations+of+the+motif+The+Swing">other representations</A> of the motif "The Swing." <P> <TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR="\#99CCCC"> <TR VALIGN=MIDDLE><TD><IMG SRC="/support/gif/listen.gif" BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE> Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 19 minutes\):<BR><A HREF="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/music1/19\_cent/tchaikovsky\_rococo.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true"><B>Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme</B></A> </TD></TR></TABLE> <BR CLEAR=LEFT><BR> ## Related artworks - [A Boy as Pierrot]() - [A Game of Horse and Rider]() - [A Game of Hot Cockles]() - [A Young Girl Reading]() - [A Young Girl Sleeping]() - [A Young Scholar]() - [Abbé de Saint-Non \(Fanciful Figure\)]() - [Adoration of the Shepherds]() - [Blindman's Buff \(detail\)]() - [Blindman's Buff]() - [Coresus Sacrificing himself to Save Callirhoe]() - [Cypresses in the Garden Avenue of the Villa]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()