After Jean-Honore Fragonard.
“Les Hazards Heureux de L’Escarpole”


It is easy to see why this beautiful and technically masterful engraving was one of Delaunay’s most popular. Based upon the famous painting by Fragonard (“The Swing” is the English translation of the title) it displays all the exuberance and veiled eroticism characteristic of Rococo art.

Fortunately, the intriguing story of the commissioning of the picture has survived. It was ordered by a client who wanted a painting depicting his mistress. The client required that his likeness also to be included in the painting, surreptitiously observing the woman. The client is the elegant man reclining on the grass in the right foreground.  Another man pulls the ropes that set the swing in motion. The elegant woman is dressed in the latest Paris fashions of expensive fabrics, lace and feathers.  She kicks one dainty slipper off into the garden. Her figure occupies the middle of the composition with the light coloring of her clothing contrasting with the complicated background of the dense background foliage. She is the focus of the viewer’s attention just as she is the focus of the two men. Even of the garden statuary seem to pay rapt attention to the beautiful lady.

Copperplate engraving.
Nice condition with margins. Strong crisp strike
27 x 22 inches, sheet.
Archivally framed to 27 ¾ x 21 5/8 inches overall framed size.