Veue de la Fontaine de Vaucluse n.d.

Joseph Parrocel created this print, entitled ‘Vue de la Fontaine de Vaucluse’, at the turn of the 18th century. We see a picturesque landscape, classically composed, where nature and humanity exist in apparent harmony. France in the late 17th and early 18th century was a highly structured society. The Academy of Painting and Sculpture, as an institution, was a key means of maintaining order in the art world. It set standards for artistic training and taste. We can consider this print within that institutional context. Is it reinforcing academic conventions, or pushing against them? To understand Parrocel’s work better, we can consider it in relation to other landscape prints of its day. We can also investigate how the site of Vaucluse was represented in literature and travel writing, exploring the cultural associations that the place held for the artist and his audience. This kind of historical contextualization helps us to understand the social life of images.