It is not difficult to see why Charles Dunlap would choose to collect primarily Rococo French drawings and paintings.
The product of a privileged upbringing and a Harvard education completed with a majority of "gentleman's C's" and below, Dunlap grew up appreciating 18th-century French art. He was raised with frequent trips to Europe and continued to travel there as he began his own collection. As a result, the pictures he chose for his collection contain themes of leisure, domesticity and forms of pleasure-seeking; they consciously don't feature work, death, religion or sadness.
"To Delight the Eye" is a small show of 30 pieces reflecting the highlights of a 54-piece donation Dunlap made to Harvard's Fogg Art Museum in the 1950s and 1960s. These works reflect the delicacy and lightness of effect which were in style at the time. In general, strong colors weren't part of the palette, and Madame de Pompadour (a.k.a. Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson), the French king's extravagant mistress, was the fashion plate for a high Rococo lifestyle.
"The Laundress," from 1761, plays with the viewer's thoughts, making us believe that we've interrupted this young woman in the midst of her work, yet upon closer inspection one can notice that she is well dressed, and her hands are white and unaccustomed to manual labor. Dunlap most likely purchased this Jean-Baptiste Greuze work for this very reason: The French elite could imagine that she was working without having to see the effects of it. Dunlap was probably also intrigued by the common belief at the time that laundresses were promiscuous.
Nicolas Lavreince's "Lady Drinking Tea" also portrays the 18th century leisure society while incorporating contemporary popular culture. Tea had only been introduced in France in the early 17th century, and, playing on this new fad, Lavreince depicts a stylish woman in full pre-Revolution-era glamour.
Her hair is large, embellished with flowers and ribbons, her waist nipped and her skirt flowing. Daintily, she holds a tiny cup of tea to her chest where her bosom overflows, highlighting the Rococo sensibility for scenes of romance and sexuality.
In a more overt scene of romantic interplay, "Feigned Flight" from Rococo master Jean-Honore Fragonard shows a young woman running coyly from a man at left. There is not a care to be had in this painting: Fluffy white clouds highlight the bright blue sky, the greenery has conveniently parted for the woman's small feet, and the wind blows her dress just the right way to emphasize her small frame.
In a similar style, Fragonard's "Young Girl Abandoned," from around 1790, was commissioned for the famous Madame de Pompadour's Pavilion at Louveciennes. This genre scene features a woman draped against a tall statue, remorseful over a lost love.
While Fragonard is one of the bigger names featured in this small, one-room show, other notable works of the time are shown as well, like those of the later, more classical Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Fran?§ois Boucher's classic 1758 portrait of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson at her makeup table.
A real highlight of the show is Maurice-Quentin de la Tour's masterpiece, "Portrait of a Woman." This piece truly proves de la Tour to be the "prince of pastelists" through his dexterous use of pastel, a medium that hadn't previously been very popular. In this portrait, de la Tour adroitly uses it to vividly portray the sitter's soft gray hair bundled with a headband, her fine satin bodice, and most beautiful of all, the intricate lace sleeves which ruffle at her forearms. De la Tour doesn't neglect the chair upon which the woman sits; in fact, he renders the rich upholstery in an elegant style which doesn't detract from the woman, but instead enhances her.
While many view 18th century French art to be frivolous, it was created simply to please the eye and not as deep social commentary. Dunlap appreciated this style for its beauty and probably for its relation to his privileged lifestyle. This show can be appreciated for its decorativeness just as it can be seen as an interesting perspective on a wealthy modern man's proclivities toward art that reflects a similar time and similar tastes to his own.
