Gallant Scene in the Park, France, 19th-Century, Oil on Canvas

Ancient painting depicting a moment of leisure of French aristocracy, anonymous French school teacher of the early 19th century, oil on canvas. The composition of the scene is engaged by three characters, a man and two girls, caught in a joyful daily living room animated by the carefree Joie de Vivre typical of the frivolous and mundane aristocracy. Our painting is inspired by the so-called "Galanti scenes", a pictorial theme that became so pre-eminent in the European pictorial culture since the first decades of the 18th century to the point of having almost dignity of a pictorial gender. Reflects a modus vivendi of the high society of the time, accustomed to the pleasures of life, the agiazza of the court's well-being, among other entertainment, whims and diseases. Historical notes: The eighteenth century is the century of Galantia, the statement of the principles of the Bon Ton, an extreme formalism spreads in all European courts and is in this feeling that the other great theme, that of the so-called " Fêtes Galantes "(Galanti feasts), a term that refers to a kind of paint specifically created by the Francia Academy in 1717 to describe the variations on the theme of the" Fête Champêtre "introduced by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), characterized by figures In dance dress or dressed in mask, inserted in an outdoor gardens setting. A lush landscape frames the three figures contributing to that pleasant feeling of peace, harmony and serenity, far from the protocols of Palazzo, far from the rigid schemes in favor of a more spontaneous and genuine reconciliation with nature and with the simple things of life. Simple gestures are, genuine faces expressions, idyllic landscape with waterfall. The clothes are those of the eighteenth-century tradition even if the painting was built in the early 19800s in an almost nostalgic key. That of the ancient regime was now a distant memory, beheaded by the principles imposed by the French revolution and widespread by the Napoleonic campaigns. The canvas is embellished with a beautiful French frame in golden wood in gold leaf, engraved joke, smooth band with carved angles. Provenance: France (1820/40) Measures: 115x95cm. Document: certificate of authenticity.