Divertissement

French 18th Century

National Gallery of Art

Five women, one man, and two children gather in a garden near a stone wall topped with an oversized urn in this vertical painting. The hues are muted, and the texture of the canvas is visible throughout. All the people have pale skin and blond or pale hair. The women wear dresses with long, voluminous skirts in shades of rose pink, canary yellow, olive green, and ivory white. One woman sits with her back to us as she faces a young, clean-shaven person. One stockinged leg extended to the right suggests that person is a man. The pair hold a boxy object, but details are difficult to make out. Another woman sits up on a bench to the left, and two more recline in the background near the left edge of the canvas. A woman plays a guitar-like instrument to the right, and two children sit on the grass in the lower left corner. The stone wall edges in from behind the musician along the right end and then turns ninety degrees away from us. Dark, spruce-green trees grow up behind the wall, and paler, celery green tree canopies line the left edge of the canvas. The sky is pale, watery blue.