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The Swing

Maker (French, 1695 - 1736)
Additional Title(s)
  • La Balançoire or L'Escarpolette
ClassificationsPAINTINGS
Dateca. 1730
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions18 x 21 3/8 in. (45.7 x 54.3 cm.)
SignedSigned in lower right of recto: Pater
InscribedSigned in lower right of recto: Pater
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Adele S. Browning Memorial Collection, gift of Mildred Browning Green and Honorable Lucius Peyton Green
Label TextIn 18th-century France, swings in public parks and gardens permitted adult flirtation under the innocent guise of child’s play. Artist’s frequently depicted the physical and emotional oscillations of this and other disorienting games, such as blindman’s buff and seesawing.

Status
On view
Object number78.20.14
Musical Trio
Jean-Baptiste Pater
ca. 1730
Object number: 78.20.15
Hauling in the Net, Twilight
Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot
n.d.
Object number: 26.117
Photography © 2015 Fredrik Nilsen
Jean-Baptiste Greuze
ca. 1759
Object number: 78.20.8
Mary Josephine Drummond, Condesa de Castelblanco, as Astrea
Jean-Baptiste Oudry
ca. 1710
Object number: 78.20.11
Dans le Parc
Jean-Baptiste Hilair
ca. 1795
Object number: 78.20.9A
Dans le Jardin
Jean-Baptiste Hilair
ca. 1795
Object number: 78.20.9B
Comtesse Pélagie Roza Potocka Sapieha
Auguste Louis Jean Baptiste Riviere
ca. 1793 -1794
Object number: 78.20.17
Child with Bird Cage
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
ca. 1823
Object number: 11.39
Child with Bird and Apple
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
ca. 1823
Object number: 11.40
Child
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
after 1750
Object number: 27.83
Jean-Baptiste Tilliard
ca. 1760
Object number: 78.20.71A
Jean-Baptiste Tilliard
ca. 1760
Object number: 78.20.71B