"The Lover Crowned" in Eighteenth-Century French Art

" T h e L ov er C row n ed " nmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA in E ig h teen th -C en tu ry F ren ch A rtQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA A N N E B E TTY W E IN SH E N K E R French art from the time of Watteau to the Revolution and beyond was particularly rich in the iconography of love. Among the many pic­ torial themes devoted to that topic was the coronation of the loved one with a floral garland. Subject to literal or symbolic interpretation, this motif allowed considerable variation and was susceptible of a range of nuances in meaning. It was used by a large number of the century's painters, sculptors, and printmakers, including most of the major ones, and appears in other art forms as well. The theme had a long previous development. Since antiquity the image of wreathing in general had been a frequent subject. Represen­ tations of garlands held over or placed upon the heads of individuals to be honored for merit or victory are common on ancient works of art.1 In these cases the wreath is ordinarily foliate rather than floral. Coronation with a garland or chaplet of flowers is depicted in many works of art from the later Middle Ages. They are usually secular in subject. With them the theme takes on the two aspects that will so frequently henceforth—and particularly in the eighteenth century— accompany it: the association with love and the pastoral context. De­ pictions of a woman placing a garland on the head of her beloved ap­ pear on ivory mirror cases from the fourteenth century; sometimes the scene is found alone, and sometimes as part of a sequence that also includes a portrayal of the couple weaving the crown (fig. I).2 Fifteenth-century engravings, also devoted to the theme of love, por­ tray the weaving of the crown and the floral coronation.3 The flower 271 272 / ponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA W EIN SH EN K ER rqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Figure 1: M irror case: lovers m eeting, the weaving of the crown, the lover crowned, the departure. Ivory, first half of the fourteenth century. The Louvre, Paris. Courtesy of the M usees Nationaux.jihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA wreath was a standard accessory of courtly gallantry and a frequent object in medieval love literature. It was also presented by suitors to their ladies.4 Floral coronations, like other medieval representations of lovers, were commonly set amid park-like or pastoral surroundings, marked by the presence of trees and other forms of vegetation and of domestic animals. Of direct relevance for eighteenth-century French practice is the popularity of the floral coronation in seventeenth-century Holland? Again it is found in a bucolic setting and refers to love. A number of works by Pieter Lastman, the teacher of Rembrandt, include this motif. One of them conveys most explicitly the sexual meaning that E ig h teen th -C en tu ry F ren ch A rt I 2 7 3 nmlkjihgfedcbaZYXW the wreath carried in folk tradition: virginity and in particular the fe­ male sex organs (fig. 2). A woman's bestowal of the wreath on her suitor signified her consent to giving up her virginity. The accessories in Lastman's painting enlarge upon this theme: while sheep are seen in the distance, two prominently placed goats, symbols of unbridled eroticism,6 gaze at us as directly as do the young human lovers. The lower right corner of the work displays a still-life grouping consisting of a large ripe melon, partly open to reveal its soft and inviting inte­ rior—a clearly erotic reference—along with a shepherd's staff and a set of bagpipes. This musical instrument was also considered sym­ bolic of sexual activity.7 A relief made by Clodion in 1765 again places the floral coronation in an overtly erotic situation. It presents a nymph, a satyr, and a satyress involved in a sexual act; the wreathing denotes and completes their unification.8 Less obviously erotic are the numerous eighteenthcentury floral coronations portraying a male figure placing the wreath on the head of his beloved. In some instances this action may merely refer, as Posner has indicated...