Portrait of Denis Diderot 1769

Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted this portrait of Denis Diderot with oil on canvas. Look closely, and you'll notice the quick, gestural brushstrokes. The paint is applied with a freedom that captures Diderot's intellectual energy, but also evokes the shifting social landscape of the time. While portraits were traditionally about conveying status through meticulous detail, here, Fragonard is doing something different. The looser handling suggests a more modern sensibility, one that values immediacy and personal expression over polished representation. The materiality of the paint itself becomes a key element. Fragonard exploits the fluidity of the oil to give us a sense of Diderot's lively mind at work. This shift towards a more expressive handling of materials mirrored broader changes in society, where the individual was beginning to take precedence over established hierarchies. Ultimately, Fragonard's portrait challenges the rigid conventions of academic art, embracing a more dynamic and subjective approach, reflecting a society in flux.