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Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806)

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a student of Boucher

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successful career on his own

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had an unofficial career

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had joined the academy as a student

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was never officially in the academy since he didn't submit the final work

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was able to have a successful career outside of court circles

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producing a number of prints for the print market

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different market

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accessible to a more middle class

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Enlightenment writers and critics

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concerned with moral integrity of society

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vaguely sexualized paintings without any sort of ethical conclusion

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prints were supposed to have narratives that could be understood by middle class audiences which may not understand the coded references in higher art

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1778 The Armoire

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can be encoded by various audiences

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a bedroom scene

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the armoire is the cupboard

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lover on left-hand side

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her angry parents on right

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the bed is unmade, they have been in the bed

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onlookers at the door to enjoy the action and drama and the scene

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a little boy and little girl on the right who are learning from this scene

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may not understand the full sexuality of the narrative

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but understand that these two people have been caught doing something that the parents think they shouldn't have been doing

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code: his hat

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one hand holding onto the armoire

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the other hand you can't see

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hat is being held up not by a hand

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yet the hat is on his head, so to say

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remorse at being caught

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you read from right to left to understand the scene

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the rush of the parents

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sexuality that has been consummated

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then from left to right to interpret the scene

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sexuality that has been reprimanded

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the end of Rococo

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French artists responding to more middle class values

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but there are still references back to the coded, sexual or erotic motifs that also entertai elite viewers

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and see a continuity from the early Rococo stages into its later stages about 10 years prior to the Revolution