2-732-294 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Invocation to Love, c. 1781. Set in a lush garden, this allegory focuses on a woman pleading for help from a statue of Eros. His blindfold alludes to the uncertain outcome of her affair, while the indifferent putto leaning on an orb suggests this woman is not the first to make a desperate appeal to the god of Love. Details like the antique statuary, the woman’s Roman sandals, and her position parallel to the picture plane (much like depictions on ancient sculptural reliefs) reflect Neoclassical style. However, Fragonard’s portrayal of the woman’s feelings through her pose and the billowing robes anticipates Romanticism, a late 18th-century artistic and literary movement that celebrated emotion as a source of aesthetic experience.