Sleeping Shepherdess

In the first half of the eighteenth century, a genre called fêtes-galantes, which depicted the lives of well-born ladies and gentlemen pleasantly speaking of love in parks and in the countryside, came into existence. Lancret, under the influence of Jean-Antoine Watteau, became a successor to this tradition. In contrast to the works of Watteau, which were filled with melancholy, those of Lancret celebrated lighter pastoral scenes. (Source: The Digital Gallery. 1999-2006)