30 PAINTINGS OF 18TH CENTURY FRENCH SCHOOL ARE EXHIBITED AT FOGG

An exhibition of French painting of the Eighteenth Century was opened Sunday at the Fogg Art Museum and will continue for two weeks, ending March 2. There are about 30 pictures, the majority lent by Felix Wildenstein, Paris. The other contributors are Sir Joseph Duveen and the California palace of Legion of Honor.

According to information given out by the museum, the exhibition represents all the principal tendencies in French painting during the Eighteenth Century. A portrait group by Largilliere depicts the change from the Seventeenth Century, and the type of work done during the reign of Louis XIV to the emancipated and freed spirit of the time of his grandson, Louis XV. The court painting of the beginning of the Seventeenth Century is represented in its chief examples by the two pictures by Wateau; several examples of the different styles of Fragonard, still life pictures by Chardin, and a group of contemporary portraits. Watteau's paintings "Minuet" and "Fete Champetre" show clearly the lightness and frivolity of the court art. The advent of the neo-classic expression in painting subsequent to the Revolution and prevalent during the Napoleonic era, is represented by the large portrait of a lady by David.

Other things of interest in the exhibition are two portrait busts, by Pajon and Houdon, and several terra-cotta plaques by Clodian. There are also four chairs after Oudry, covered with Beauvaih tapestry, which together with several tables and consoles give an idea of the furniture of this period.