Summer

Summer by Lancret, painted in 1738, is part of a Four Seasons series that allowed him to depict the activities and atmospheres associated with each time of year within a coherent decorative ensemble. Summer's outdoor scenes — harvesting, swimming, outdoor entertainments — provided the warmest and most physically active subjects in the seasonal cycle, giving Lancret the opportunity to depict a fuller range of human activity than his usual aristocratic subjects. The 1738 date places Summer in his late career, when he was a well-established royal painter working on commissioned ensembles for the royal palaces and aristocratic hôtels particuliers. Seasonal series of this kind were among the most commercially successful formats in the decorative painting market, providing patrons with coordinated works that could be distributed across a room's four walls.

The summer scene is rendered with warm, bright tones that evoke the heat and light of the season. Lancret's characteristic fluid brushwork and decorative approach to landscape create a convincing atmosphere of summer leisure.