Een feestdag in het park 1775 - 1780

Jean-Honoré Fragonard created this wash drawing, *A Fête Day in the Park*, without noting the year of its creation. The image conjures an idealized vision of aristocratic leisure, reflecting the values and tastes of the French upper class in the years before the Revolution. Here is a scene of carefree enjoyment, suggesting the cultural context of lavish courtly life that characterized France at the time. Fragonard suggests how this elevated social sphere encouraged the enjoyment of nature, music, and sophisticated socializing. The social structure, political climate, and economic conditions of pre-revolutionary France all served to shape the artwork. To gain a better understanding of this drawing, one might consult historical records, biographies, and studies of French art and culture to discover more about the artwork's social and institutional context. Considering the historical context of art highlights how the meaning and interpretation of art are always bound to the social and institutional circumstances of their creation.