Brother Philippe's Geese

Brother Philippe"s geese scatter in comical disarray in this 1736 illustration of a tale from La Fontaine, now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. La Fontaine"s Fables and Contes were a rich source for French painters throughout the eighteenth century, their witty narratives of human folly perfectly suited to the Rococo taste for elegant entertainment with a moral edge. Lancret excelled at these literary subjects, translating written narrative into visual comedy with the same lightness of touch he brought to his fetes galantes.

The narrative unfolds through the comic interplay of the friar"s distressed expression and the scattering birds, with Lancret arranging the geese in dynamic, diverging trajectories across the canvas. The rural setting differs from his usual aristocratic parks, featuring a simpler landscape of farmland and rustic buildings. The palette is earthier than his garden scenes, with warmer browns and greens, while the brushwork captures the texture of feathers and the movement of startled birds with characteristic deftness.