A Game of Hot Cockles c. 1775 - 1780

Editor: Here we have Fragonard's "A Game of Hot Cockles," painted around 1775-1780 using oil paint. It feels almost theatrical, this gathering in a lush landscape. What catches your eye about this work? Curator: Immediately, the brushwork is telling. Fragonard's loose application of oil paint, almost dissolving the figures into the landscape, signals a departure from the rigid academic styles. How does the material itself, the impasto, or lack thereof, contribute to our understanding of aristocratic leisure during this period? Are these figures truly "at play," or is something more manufactured at hand, visible in the facture itself? Editor: I see what you mean. The blurring does give it an artificial feel, like a staged scene. Does that imply a critique of the leisure class and its consumption of frivolous things? Curator: Precisely. The Rococo style, with its association with aristocracy, comes under scrutiny through a Materialist lens. We have to ask: who is producing this canvas? Where did the pigments come from? Were they hand-ground by workshop assistants or increasingly supplied ready-made, which could indicate larger industrialized painting? What impact did this production have on society as a whole? And, to whom did the painting sell? Editor: So it's not just about what's depicted, but the very act of its creation and who it served? The creation as a sign of class, too. Curator: Exactly. Fragonard's materials and his mode of applying them is revealing regarding art and luxury manufacturing. This method of inquiry is less about idealized beauty and more about production, consumption and historical change. Editor: This has really made me reconsider how to interpret paintings. I see how focusing on the physical production can reveal deeper meanings about the world at the time. Curator: Indeed! Materiality reframes art historical discourse to challenge long-standing aesthetic norms.