How do the formal qualities and iconography of Jean-Honoré Fragonard's The Swing exemplify the characteristics of the Rococo style?
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should include:
1. Rococo is characterized by dainty figures and lightheartedness and pictorial themes and often incorporated Classical love stories, putti, and cupids.
2. The Swing depicts a pretty young woman suspended in midair on a swing; her movement is created by an elderly guardian who pulls on a rope and is obscured in the shadows of the trees on the right.
3. On the left, the girl's blushing lover hides in the bushes, swooning with anticipation to receive an unobstructed view up her skirt that the girl lifts by extending her leg.
4. The playful abandon of the lovers, the complicity of the sculpture of Cupid on the left, the putti with a dolphin beneath the swing who seem to urge the woman on, and the poor duped guardian on the right, all work together to create an image that bursts with anticipation and desire, but also maintains a robust sense of humor.
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