The Meeting

A young lover scrambles over a garden wall, clutching a stone urn, to reach his beloved, who turns with a start, half-rising in alarm and delight, while a statue of Venus presides above. The Meeting belongs to Fragonard's great cycle on the Progress of Love, painted for Madame du Barry. Now in the Frick, it is pure Rococo theater - lush foliage, fluttering drapery, secret assignation - the stolen rendezvous staged amid roses and statuary with all the painter's sparkling brushwork and delight in the games of courtship and desire.