Fragonard's Passions
Title: The Fountain of Love, about 1785
Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French 1732-1806)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: unframed: 62.2 x 51.4 cm (24 1/2 x 20 1/4 in.)
Framed: 84.5 x 72.4 x 5.4 cm (33 1/4 x 28 1/2 x 2 1/8 in.).
Permanent Collection: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Image Courtesy: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
Consuming Passion
Fragonard’s Allegories of Love
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute
October 28, 2007- January 21, 2008
Love. The reoccurring theme found in Jean-Honoré Fragonard's works with a soupçon of gallantry illustrating the Rococo
movement.
Title: The Oath of Love,
Artists: after Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French 1732-1806) and Jean Mathieu (French 1749-1815)
Medium: Hand-Colored Engraving
Dimensions: unframed: 64.1 x 50.2 cm (25 1/4 x 19 3/4 in.)
Framed: 72.7 x 57.5 x 3.8 cm (28 5/8 x 22 5/8 x 1 1/1 in.)
Accession No.: EX.2008.139
Collection UCLA Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts
Hammer Museum
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Gordon, Los Angeles, California, 1956.7.4
Image Courtesy: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Briefly he studied with naturalistic artist Jean-Siméon Chardin, but their artistic styles were
diametrically opposite, leading to clashes, and quite soon Fragonard sought out a teacher of similar ideals and became
Francois Bouchér's most celebrated teacher.
Title: Two Girls with Dogs, about 1768
Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French 1732-1806)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: unframed: 74.3 x 59.1 cm (29 1/4 x 23 1/4 in.)
Framed: 99.7 x 86.4 x 8.9 cm (39 1/4 x 34 x 3 1/2 in.)
Accession Number: EX.2008.1.38
Lynda & Stewart Resnick, Beverly Hills California
Image Courtesy: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
The pupil went on to win the Prix of Rome undeterred that he was not a student at the Académie Royale. As his teacher,
Bouchér, phrased it, "It does not matter,
you are my student". Like Bouchér, Fragonard became a protégé of Madame de Pompadour.
Fragonard studied in Rome, finding inspiration from Tiepolo's masterpieces. For a dozen years he exhibited at the Salon but gave that
up, turning to private patrons for his bread and butter. Among them, briefly, was Madame du Barry, believed to be the most beautiful
of King Louis XV's mistresses. For this royally-connected patron Fragonard delivered the four works considered to be his lifework's
highest achievement, the series called The Progress of Love. His client didn't agree with this oft held sentiment and returned
the works, replacing them with canvasses created for her by Joseph-Marie Vien. Undeterred
Fragonard later added further works to his series.
Title: The Invocation to Love, 1781
Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French 1732-1806)
Medium: Pen and Sepia Ink and Wash over Black Chalk
Dimensions: unframed: 35.4 x 46.3 cm (13 15/16 x 18 1/4 in.)
Framed: 62.2 x 77.5 x 2.5 cm (24 1/2 x 30 1/2 x 1 in.)
Accession Number: EX.2008.1.20
Princeton University Art Museum
Gift of Miss Margaret Mower
for the Elsa Durand Mower Collection, Princeton, New Jersey.
Image Courtesy: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Fragonard found inspiration in other European artists. The color of a Rubens or the
élan of Frans Hals are reflected in the Frenchman's works. His
works often can be found to be full of creams and pink tones with a fluent freedom of creation setting him apart from other Rococo artists.
Title: The Oath of Love, 1780/1783
Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French 1732-1806)
Medium: Oil on Oval Canvas
Dimensions: unframed: 62 x 52 (24 7/16 x 21 1/4 in.)
Framed: 97.3 x 74.2 x 4.6 (38 5/16 x 29 3/16 x 1 13/16 in.)
Accession Number: EX.2008.1.32
Rothschild Family Trust
Waddesdon Manor
Buckinghamshire, England
Image Courtesy: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
The French Revolution had an impact on artistry, Fragonard's frivolous works were not in favor in the harsh conditions and turn away
from anything remotely aristocratic or royal. By 1792 the artist had all but abandoned painting. One of Fragonard's kindnesses to
an unknown artist at the time, Jacques-Louis David, was repaid. David arranged for Fragonard to take on an
administrative position at a newly opened Parisian art museum, the Louvre, where Fragonard would work until 1800 before spending the last 6 years
of his life as a recluse.
Title: The Sacrifice of the Rose, about 1788-1789
Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard (French 1732-1806)
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: unframed: 64.1 x 54 cm (25 1/4 x 21 1/4 in.)
Framed: 84.5 x 73.7 x 5.1 cm (33 1/4 x 29 x 2 in.)
Accession Number: EX.2008.1.34
Lynda & Stewart Resnick, Beverly Hills California
Image Courtesy: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Consuming Passion explores the mysterious and evocative allegories of
love that Jean-Honoré Fragonard created in the late 18th Century.
After the exhibit closes at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute it will move to California and open at The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
Consuming Passion: Fragonard’s Allegories of Love
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute:
October 28, 2007 - January 21, 2008
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles:
February 12 - May 4, 2008
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