Declaration of Love (c. 1720): Art, History and Details

Declaration of Love (c. 1720) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Nicolas Lancret (French, 1690–1743).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

A category of painting invented in France in the early 1700s is the fête galante (gallant party), with subject matter that hovers between fantasy and reality. The figures in theatrical costume derive from Italian street performers seen in Paris, while the playful outdoor garden party connects to leisure activities enjoyed by certain Parisian elites. The arts of conversation, music, and painting—all highly valued by French aristocracy—intersect in this work.

Object facts

• Title: Declaration of Love
• Date: c. 1720
• Creator attribution: Nicolas Lancret (French, 1690–1743)
• Culture: France
• Type: Painting
• Technique: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: Framed: 103 x 90.5 x 9 cm (40 9/16 x 35 5/8 x 3 9/16 in.); Unframed: 80.1 x 64 cm (31 9/16 x 25 3/16 in.)
• Collection: P - French 18th Century
• Department: European Painting and Sculpture
• Accession number: 1944.86

Collection credit

Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• MOCATTA, Ernest G. Catalogue of the Collection of Objects of Art of the 15th, 16th and 17th Centuries, Porcelain and Faience, Formed by Ernest G. Mocatta ... Which, by Order of the Executors, Will Be Sold by Auction by Messrs. Christie, Manson & Woods ... December 6, 1927, Etc. William Clowes & Sons: London, 1927.
• Catalogue of the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection : Bequest of Elisabeth Severance Prentiss, 1944. [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1944.
• "Recent Important Acquisitions of American Collections", Art Quarterly, VII, no. 3 (1944).

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.