Captured Kiss

Merry and playful, the subject of The Lost Forfeit or The Captured Kiss was probably dictated by the Bailli de Breteuil, well-known patron and art lover, who commissioned the work for which this is a sketch. With its soft warm tones and its light, free manner of execution so characteristic of Fragonard, the sketch is in many ways more expressive than the final version (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). In submitting himself to the tastes of his rich clients and creating works in the light, elegant style they so loved, the artist nonetheless responded to new demands on art as expressed by the leading figures in the French Enlightenment, and this can be felt in the natural and vivacious gestures, poses and movements of the figures.