Le Pot au Lait 1745 - 1806

Jean-Honoré Fragonard made this print, "Le Pot au Lait," in France, sometime in the late 18th century. It's a delicate engraving, rendered in a style that encapsulates the Rococo, with its playful and ornamental qualities. The image illustrates one of La Fontaine’s fables, telling the story of a milkmaid whose daydreams of upward mobility are shattered when she trips and spills her milk. Fragonard, however, avoids moralizing. Instead, the woman's dreams literally rise from the spilled milk as fantastical visions of what might have been. The print offers a subtle commentary on the social ambitions prevalent in pre-revolutionary France. To truly grasp the print’s nuances, it's important to look at the wider context: the culture of printmaking in France, the popularity of La Fontaine’s fables, and the social aspirations of the emerging middle class. Researching these aspects can reveal how Fragonard, through this seemingly simple image, engaged with the social currents of his time.