Public collection via the Cleveland Museum of Art
AT-00009339Declaration of Love
About the Artwork
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.
Provenance
William Sharp Ogden (1845-1926), Finchley, London December 6, 1927: (Sale: Christie’s, London, December 6, 1927, no. 50) [Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY] 1928-1944: Elisabeth Severance Prentiss (Mrs. Francis Fleury Prentiss) (1865-1944), Cleveland, OH, gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art 1944-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Exhibition history
Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934). The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957). Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in Eighteenth-Century France. Hood Museum of Art (organizer) (October 4, 1997-January 4, 1998); The Toledo Museum of Art (February 14-May 8, 1998); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (May 26-August 18, 1998).
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Nicolas Lancret (French, 1690–1743)
- Date
- c. 1720
- Medium
- 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.)
- Type
- Painting
- Classification
- Painting
- Department
- European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Collection
- Accession no.
- 1944.86
More by Nicolas Lancret in museum collections
Open-access museum record · AT-00009339
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