Happy Lovers, Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Happy Lovers by Jean-Honoré Fragonard is originally an oil on canvas painting from 1732. A young couple enjoys themselves in a secluded rustic retreat. The pretty young girl plays the temptress to the boy who is the willing object of her affection. Above his head, she dangles a bird cage, with its door already ajar. As a symbol both moralizing and erotic, its implications for the dalliance between the young couple would have been easily recognizable to its eighteenth century audience.