France, 1787
Le Baiser à la dérobée or The Stolen Kiss is a painting by French painter Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) from the end of the 1780s, depicting a secretive romance. The painting is hosted in the collection of the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg. The style of the painting was characteristic of the French Rococo period and was favoured by the wealthy art patrons of his time.
Fragonard's late period was marked by his careful study of the Dutch 17th-century masters, whose influence is felt in this masterpiece from the 1790s, The Stolen Kiss. The smooth, enamel-like surface of the painting, the blended brushstrokes used to convey the details so precisely, unavoidably recall the work of the Dutch artists Metsu and Terborch. Fragonard lovingly depicts surface texture and the material of which each object is made. Yet the subject itself is a pretty, amusing scene taken from life, with that grace and lightness in the movements of the two heroes which is so typical of French art of the time. The painting lies firmly within the traditions of the rococo style - already being affected by realistic tendencies in the second half of the 18th century.
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