The master of the Rococo movement was French painter and printmaker Jean-Honore Fragonard. Fragonard was born April 5th, 1732 in Grasse. He was an incredibly prolific artists of the 18th century, producing over 550 paintings. In true Rococo fashion, his paintings often featured romance, with allusions to eroticism and desire. In his painting The Secret Meeting, Fragonard depicts a wealthy gentleman climbing up a balcony to meet his lover. The heroine of the painting sits in a dramatic pose, with an arm extended telling her lover to wait, for fear of getting caught. If this is not obvious enough, the lovers are meeting beneath a sculpture of Venus, the goddess of Love, and her son Cupid. The Secret Meeting is the second panel within a series by Fragonard titled, “The Progress of Love.” The series was originally intended for Madame du Barry, the last mistress of King Louis XV, to hang in her “pleasure pavilion.” However, Madame du Barry ended up rejecting Fragonard’s series, for reasons unknown. Some historians believe it was because the hero and heroine of the series bared too close a likeness to Madame du Barry and Louis XV himself.