Exhibition | Fragonard in Love: Suitor and Libertine
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Useless Resistance, 1770–73,
18 × 24 inches, 45 × 60 cm (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum)
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Opening next month at the Musée du Luxembourg:
Fragonard Amoureux: Galant et Libertin
Fragonard in Love: Suitor and Libertine
Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 6 September 2015 — 24 January 2016
Curated by Guillaume Faroult
According to the Goncourt brothers, the eighteenth century was an era of seduction, love and intrigue, and Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) might have been its main illustrator, if not its main agent. Indeed, the inspiration of love runs through Divine Frago’s protean and generous work, from his early bucolic compositions to the love allegories found in his later works. In turn gallant, libertine, daringly lustful or conversely concerned with new love ethics, his art spans half a century of artistic creativity with ardour and elegance, endlessly reinventing itself to better capture the subtle variations of emotion and love impulse.
Presenting Fragonard’s work for the first time through this love prism, this exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg focuses on the mid-eighteenth century, a time when the spirit of Enlightenment was deeply influenced by English sensualism. The topic of how to delicately express sensuality and emotion was then at the heart of philosophical, literary and artistic concerns. Strongly imbued with these questions as he emerged from François Boucher’s studio, the young Fragonard already brings to fashionable pastoral and mythological compositions a fresh sensitivity, unquestionably marked by sensuality, yet more profound than the strict libertine strategy.
Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Stolen Kiss, ca. 1760, 19 x 25 inches, 48.3 x 63.5 cm (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art)
At the same time, his study of Flemish masters encourages him to transition from sophisticated eroticism to rustic scenes that take on an unequivocal carnal dimension, such as The Stolen Kiss from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Talented illustrator of La Fontaine’s least restrained Tales, Fragonard, like his colleague, miniaturist and libertine Pierre-Antoine Baudoin, displays an audacity that often matches that of many progressive writers and intellectuals of his time, such as Diderot in The Indiscreet Jewels. Indeed, forceful yet allusive ‘secret’ works for licentious amateurs, created at the beginning of the 1760, contributed to portraying Fragonard as a libertine and painter of ladies’ salons and other intimate scenes. This impish inspiration transpires through a great variety of expressions, from the naughty Useless Resistance in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm to the sensual yet delicate Kiss (private collection).
In parallel with this independence of mind—or free licence—Fragonard strove to renew with great poetry the theme of fête galante, inherited from Watteau, as the timeless Île d’amour (on loan from the Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian) testifies. Later, in the 1770 and 1780s, following in the steps of the famous The Lock from the Louvre and as de Laclos’s Liaisons Dangereuses knelled the end of literature’s libertine inspiration, his art reached a decisive turning point as he began to explore the true feeling of love through allegories swept by a most delicate lyricism. With infinite subtlety, Fragonard dealt with the mystical dimension of profane love, at the root of what was to become ‘romantic love’.
S E C T I O N S
Introduction
The Gallant Shepherd
The Loves of the Gods
Rustic and Popular Eros
Fragonard, Illustrator of Libertine Tales
Pierre-Antoine Baudouin, A Libertinist Master
Fragonard and Licentious Imagery
Dangerous Reading
The Revival of the Fête Galante
Love Moralised
Heroic Passion
Romantic Allegory
Curators: Guillaume Faroult, Head of Conservation, Paintings Department, Musée du Louvre, 18th-century French paintings Manager.
Scenography: Jean-Julien Simonot
This exhibition is produced by the Réunion des Musées Nationaux-Grand Palais.
The catalogue is available from Artbooks.com:
Guillaume Faroult, ed., Fragonard Amoureux: Galant et Libertin (Paris: Musées Nationaux, 2015), 288 pages, ISBN: 978-2711862344, 45€ / $75.
Exhibition | Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842)
Opening next month in Paris at the Grand Palais:
Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842)
Grand Palais, Paris, 23 September 2015 — 11 January 2016
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 9 February — 15 May 2016
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 10 June — 12 September 2016
Curated by Joseph Baillio and Xavier Salmon
This first retrospective devoted to the works of Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun presents an artist whose life stretched from the reign of Louis XV to that of Louis-Philippe—one of the most eventful and turbulent periods in European and above all French history of modern times.
Self-portraits by Vigée Le Brun abound: paintings, pastels and drawings that elegantly associate feminine grace and pride. With the Ancien Régime and its School of Fine Arts coming to an end, she supplanted most of her rival portrait artists. Vigee Le Brun used self-portraits to assert her status, circulate her image and show people the mother she had become despite the constraints of a career.
She made her greatest coup de force at the 1787 Exhibition where she presented two paintings that cannot be dissociated. First, a Portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette posing for a portrait surrounded by her children in an attempt to rectify the image of an extravagant libertine; secondly, the portrait of a female artist hugging her daughter Julie to her chest in an effusive Raphael-like manner. The latter is one of the finest and most popular of the many works by this painter owned by the Louvre and has remained the emblem of «maternal tenderness» since it was first exhibited to the public. The culture of the Enlightenment and the influence of Rousseau obliged the artist to take on this role, which she did happily and with resounding success. As a counterpoint, she painted the Portrait of Hubert Robert. These paintings are absolute icons illustrating the joy of life and creative genius, complementing and communicating with each other.
What is even more remarkable was her determination to overcome obstacles hindering her career. Born in Paris in 1755, she came from a relatively modest background, her mother a hairdresser and her father a talented portrait artist. Her father died when she was a young adolescent. Drawing inspiration from his example, the brilliant young artist was accepted as a master painter at the Academy of Saint-Luc. In 1776, she married the most important art dealer of her generation, Jean Baptiste Pierre Le Brun (1748–1813), but this prevented her from being accepted at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture because its regulations formally forbid any contact with mercantile professions. However, this union had a beneficial effect on her career. When the price of Flemish paintings soared, she learnt how to master the magic of colours and the fine craftsmanship of Rubens and Van Dyck. Her clientèle had mainly been the bourgeoisie but in 1777, she started working for the aristocracy, descendants of royal blood and finally Queen Marie-Antoinette. However, it was not until 1783 and the intervention of the Queen’s husband, Louis XVI, that the portrait artist was able to join the Royal Academy of Painting after much polemic.
Organized by the Réunion des musées nationaux/Grand Palais in Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.
The exhibition booklet is available here»
Details on the catalogue to follow later.
Exhibition | About Face: Human Expression on Paper
Press release (28 July 2015) for the exhibition:
About Face: Human Expression on Paper
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 27 July — 13 December 2015
Charles Antoine Coypel, Medea, ca. 1715, pastel, 12 x 8 inches / 29.4 x 20.6 cm (NY: The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The representation of human emotion through facial expression has interested Western artists since antiquity. Drawn from The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of drawings, prints, and photographs, the diverse works in About Face: Human Expression on Paper—portraits, caricatures, representations of theater and war—reveal how expression underpinned narrative and provided a window onto the character and motivations of the subjects, the artists, and even their audiences.
Using Charles Le Brun’s illustrations for Expressions of the Passions and Guillaume-Benjamin-Armand Duchenne de Boulogne and Adrien Tournachon’s photographic series as touchstones, the approximately 60 works dating from the 16th through the 19th century show how artists such as Hans Hoffmann, Francisco Goya, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Thomas Rowlandson explored the animated human face.
Expression was at one time thought to reveal elements of individual character and was codified through the influential publications on physiognomy by the French artist Charles Le Brun (1619–1690). In 1668 Le Brun delivered a lecture to the French Academy entitled Conférence sur l’expression générale et particulière (Lecture on General and Particular Expression). When published in 1698, the text was illustrated with engravings based on the artist’s drawings—images of facial expressions that range from calm to states of agitation. Le Brun’s rational approach and precise titles were scientific in tone and distilled the chaotic variety of nature into a coherent form that had a lasting influence on European artists. The writings, which came to be known as Expressions of the Passions, were translated into different languages and influenced art theory and practice for the next two centuries. The study of expression became a key component of artistic training in art schools and academies across Europe—so much so, in fact, that by the late 18th century it had also become a rich subject of caricature and other satirical works.
In the mid-19th century, the pioneering French neurologist and physiologist Guillaume-Benjamin-Armand Duchenne de Boulogne conducted experiments involving the application of electrical current to stimulate the animation of the face. Wishing to move beyond abstract theory and into a scientific foundation for the study of facial expression, Duchenne published a scientific grammar of human emotions to be used as study material by artists at the École des Beaux-Arts. For this purpose, Duchenne collaborated with Adrien Tournachon (brother of the famous Nadar), a photographer who specialized in portraiture, to use the evidentiary power of photography to record his experiment precisely. The resulting series of gripping photographic portraits, made between 1854 and 1856, directly follow the physiognomic tradition of Le Brun and occupy a unique place at the intersection of art, science, and sentiment. Some 30 of these portraits are presented in the installation.
About Face: Human Expression on Paper is a collaboration between the Met’s Department of Drawings and Prints, and its Department of Photographs. The exhibition is made possible by The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.
Exhibition | Dionysos Unmasked: Ancient Sculpture and Early Prints
Now on view at AIC:
Dionysos Unmasked: Ancient Sculpture and Early Prints
Art Institute of Chicago, 31 July 2015 — 15 February 2016
Hellenistic or Roman, Eastern Mediterranean. Statue of Young Dionysos, 100 BC–AD 100, bronze, copper and silver (modern). 136 x 62 x 52 cm (54 x 24 1/2 x 20 in.). Anonymous loan, 1.2013. Photography by Richard Valencia.
This innovative collaboration between the Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art and the Department of Prints and Drawings examines Renaissance and Baroque printmakers’ direct responses to Classical antiquity through the figure of Dionysos, the ancient Greek god of wine and theater. Installed in the Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, this exhibition juxtaposes ancient sculpture with prints from the 15th through the 18th century with nearly 100 objects—pieces from the permanent collection, new loans of ancient art, and recently acquired works on paper.
Dionysos—known as Bacchus to the Romans—cavorted with an entourage of satyrs, the god Pan, and frenzied maenads, female followers of the god. All these devotees represented the untamed and hedonistic desires of humanity, which were unleashed by the intoxicating elixir of wine. Because performance was a part of the early Greek festivals of Dionysus, he also became known as the patron god of theater, an aspect of the deity that is less well known today. In ancient art, Dionysos could take many forms, from a graceful youth to a bearded mature man. During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the time of early printmaking, interest in antiquity—especially Dionysos—flourished. Ancient sculptures depicting the god and his raucous retinue inspired artists to find new ways to transform age-old Dionysian subjects into prints and drawings that would appeal to their own contemporary audiences.
Left: Statue of a Young Satyr Wearing a Theater Mask of Silenos, ca. 1st century AD, restorations by Alessandro Algardi, 1628. Anonymous loan. Right: John Downman, Antique Statue of Seated Putto Holding Mask of Pan, 1775 (AIC, Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collections).
Anchoring the exhibition are Greek and Roman sculptures depicting Dionysos and his wild followers along with vessels used in ritual drinking parties and festivals honoring the god of wine and theater. Their printed counterparts are masterpieces from the Italian Renaissance to the French Rococo, including notably Andrea Mantegna’s Bacchanal with a Wine Vat, a 15th-century Italian engraving with striking visual similarity to the bronze Statue of Young Dionysos (a current long-term loan to the museum). Bringing together this rich selection of works, separated by as many as 1,500 years, this exhibition offers new, enticing insights into the art of Classical antiquity and its later revivals.
The June 2013 press release announcing the long-term loan of the bronze Statue of Young Dionysos is available as a PDF
file here»
Display | Jonathan Richardson by Himself
Now on view at The Courtauld:
Jonathan Richardson by Himself
The Courtauld Gallery, London, 24 June — 20 September 2015
Curated by Susan Owens
Jonathan Richardson, Self-Portrait, ca. 1738 (London: The Courtauld Gallery)
Jonathan Richardson the Elder (1667–1745) was one of the most influential figures in the visual arts of 18th-century England. A leading portrait painter, Richardson was also a theorist and an accomplished poet and amassed one of the great collections of drawings of the age.
Towards the end of his life Richardson created a remarkable but little known series of self-portrait drawings. They show Richardson adopting a wide range of poses, guises and dress, in some cases deliberately evoking other artists, such as Rembrandt, whose work he owned. These remarkable drawings show Richardson considering and making visual the different aspects of himself. But much more than this, they were the means with which he reviewed his life and achievements.
Emma Crichton-Miller provides a review of the exhibition for Apollo Magazine’s Muse Room (27 July 2015). . .
Richardson’s habit of self-portraiture, charting his declining physical appearance, was married over a decade to a discipline of almost daily poems, where he examined his state of mind. Indeed as interesting as the images themselves is the intellectual and philosophical hinterland they suggest, which drove this self-made man, an admirer of Milton, who apparently turned down royal patronage, to pursue this humanist practice. . .
The full review is available here»
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From Paul Holberton:
Susan Owens, Jonathan Richardson By Himself (London: Paul Holberton, 2015), 64 pages, ISBN: 978-1907372841, £13.
Jonathan Richardson (1667–1745) was one of 18th-century England’s most significant cultural figures. A leading portrait painter and influential art theorist, he also amassed one of the period’s greatest collections of drawings. But there was another, highly unusual dimension to his pursuits. In 1728, at the age of 61 and shortly before his retirement from professional life, Richardson began to create a remarkable series of self-portrait drawings. Not intended for public display, these works were unguarded explorations of his own character.
In one of the most astonishing projects of self-examination ever undertaken by an artist, for over a decade Richardson repeatedly drew his own face. His self-portrait drawings are usually dated precisely, and they document, from month to month, his changing state of mind as much as his appearance. Many were drawn in chalks on large sheets of blue paper, from his reflection in the mirror. Some of these are bold and psychologically penetrating, while others, in which he regards his ageing features with gentle but unflinching scrutiny, are deeply touching. A further group of self-portraits is drawn with graphite on small sheets of fine vellum, and in these Richardson often presents himself in inventive and humorous ways, such as in profile, all’antica, as though on the face of a coin or medal; or crowned with bays, like a celebrated poet. Sometimes, too, he copies his image from oil paintings made decades earlier, in order to recall his appearance as a younger man. In this extraordinary series of self-portraits, Richardson offers a candid insight into his mind and personality. Together, these drawings create nothing less than a unique and compelling visual autobiography.
This publication—which accompanies the first ever exhibition devoted to Richardson’s self-portrait drawings, held in the new Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery at the Courtauld—tells the story of these remarkable works and puts them into the context of his other activities at this period of his life, in particular the self-searching poems he wrote during the same years and often on the same days as he made the drawings. An introductory essay is followed by focused discussions of each work in the exhibition. This part of the book explores the materials and techniques Richardson used, whether working in chalks on a large scale or creating exquisitely refined drawings on vellum. It will also reveal how Richardson modeled some of his portraits on old master prints and drawings, including works in his own collection by Rembrandt and Bernini. The publication brings together the Courtauld Gallery’s fine collection of Richardson’s drawings with key works in the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Fitzwilliam Museum.
Exhibition | The Master Collector: Karoline Luise of Baden
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Now on view in Karlsruhe:
Die Meister-Sammlerin: Karoline Luise von Baden
Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, 30 May — 6 September 2015
Karoline Luise of Baden (1723–1783) shaped the art collection of the margraves of Baden more than any other before or since. In 2015 the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe is devoting a Great State Exhibition to this passionate art collector. The exhibition coincides with celebrations marking the 300th anniversary of the city of Karlsruhe.
The centrepiece of the show will be the presentation of Karoline Luise’s Mahlerey Cabinet, a collection that once boasted more than 200 paintings, most of which are still preserved in the Kunsthalle today. Her original collection included Dutch masterpieces of the 17th century and great works of French painting from the 18th century, among them canvases by Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, David Teniers, and Jean Siméon Chardin.
The enterprising Karoline Luise was well-educated and well-versed in a broad range of subjects. She cultivated contacts with many European correspondents, made sure she was well-informed of events beyond her court, and displayed great acuity on the international art market, which was dominated by sensational auctions, just as today. She grew to become a respected connoisseur, a painter in her own right, and finally a ‘master collector’, one of the greatest art collectors of her time.
The 2015 Great State Exhibition will reunite, for the first time, the works once held in the margravine’s Mahlerey cabinet that are now held in the Kunsthalle with works previously owned by Karlsruhe and subsequently sold to museums and private collections in Europe and the United States. The exhibition is underpinned by a major collaborative research Project between the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe (state archives), and the Università della Svizzera italiana, in Mendrisio, Switzerland. The project has been generously supported by the VolkswagenStiftung. It aims to study the margravine’s extensive legacy of manuscripts and papers, preserved in the family archive of the House of Baden.
Exhibition | Pompeii and Europe, 1748–1943
Now on view in Naples:
Pompeii and Europe, 1748–1943
Museo Archeologico Nazionale Naples, 27 May — 2 November 2015
Curated by Massimo Osanna
Pompeii and Europe recounts the fascination that the archaeological site of Pompeii held for artists and the European imagination, from the start of excavations in 1748 to its dramatic bombing in 1943. The exhibition—devised by Massimo Osanna, the Superintendent for Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae—unfolds along a twofold route at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and simultaneously at the Amphitheater in Pompeii, and joins the program of events planned for Expo Milano 2015 in importance and prestige.
The exhibition evokes the history of the Vesuvian city, an inexhaustible source of inspiration, in a constant comparison between the arts and the excavations; a dialogue between archaeologists and historians of art, architecture and literature, all called on to recount the unique story of the rediscovery of Pompeii.
Promoted by the Superintendency for Pompeii, Herculaneum and Stabiae and the Directorate General of the Great Pompeii Project, with the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, the exhibition—organized by Electa with an exhibition installation by Francesco Venezia—is structured as a true journey, grand and complex, in which Antiquity enters into a dialogue with Modernity, and nature with the arts and archaeology.
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The catalogue is available in English from Artbooks.com:
Massimo Osanna, et al., Pompei and Europe, 1748–1943 (Milan: Electa, 2015), 350 pages, ISBN: 978-8891803627, $75.
Exhibition | The Grand Trianon from Louis XIV to Charles de Gaulle
Now on view at Versailles (with the French press release available here)
The Grand Trianon from Louis XIV to Charles de Gaulle
Château de Versailles, 18 June — 8 November 2015
Curated by Jérémie Benoit
Until 8 November 2015, the Palace of Versailles is holding an exhibition that will trace the history of the Grand Trianon from its construction up to 1960. In 2016, another exhibition will show the modern era after the transformation of the Grand Trianon in a presidential palace by De Gaulle.
The Grand Trianon: A Private Palace for the Seat of Power
Situated in the north-west corner of the park of the Palace of Versailles, on land that once belonged to a village purchased by Louis XIV, the current Grand Trianon sits on the site of an initial palace built in 1670 by Louis Le Vau: the Porcelain Trianon. This small palace was designed mainly as a venue for the romantic relations between Louis XIV and the Marquise de Montespan, and got its name from the ‘Chinese-style’ blue and white porcelain that covered it.
It was destroyed in 1687 and replaced by the Marble Trianon, later called the Grand Trianon, which remains today. The building was the work of Jules Hardouin-Mansart and was given the name ‘Marble’ because of the Rance marble columns on the portico and the red Languedoc marble pilasters decorated with white Carrara marble capitals. The Grand Trianon was Louis XIV’s private estate and a palace for leisure, where he entertained the ladies of the court with shows and parties. It has retained its 17th-century decoration, wood panelling and paintings depicting the Metamorphoses of Ovid, in perfect harmony with the light ambience of this country house.
The Grand Trianon was relatively little used by Louis XV, who nevertheless spent a while living there with the Marquise de Pompadour. During the French Revolution its collections were dispersed. In 1804 it became the Imperial Palace, when Napoleon restored its lustre and fully refurnished it for his marriage with the Empress Marie-Louise. The palace was inhabited for the last time by King Louis-Philippe, who housed his entire family there and somewhat modified the building to make it more comfortable.
It was turned into a museum at the end of the 19th century and filled with various motley objects, and it was only in the 20th century that the Grand Trianon regained its splendour and historical furnishings. Most recently, the birth of the French 5th Republic constituted a turning point for this estate, transforming it into a presidential residence destined to host foreign Heads of State.
The Exhibition
A collection of plans, engravings and drawings reveal the modifications and changes made to the Grand Trianon over the course of history. Painted masterpieces from Trianon, commissioned in 1688 by Louis XIV or in 1811 by Napoleon, and portraits of those who lived in the Palace recreate the atmosphere of smaller rooms centred around furniture designed for intimacy, like for example the Emperor’s pedestal surrounded by the chairs from the Hall of Mirrors, or the chair belonging to Princess Clémentine d’Orléans, the daughter of Louis-Philippe. Fascinating objects such as the recently restored ivory kiosk by Barrau and the vase of the Imperial Hunt by Swebach embellish the exhibition.
Chaise du salon des Glaces, Jacob-Desmalter, c. 1805, ivoire, ébène, buis, bois précieux divers (Musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon)
Three desk chairs very similar in form are spread throughout the exhibition: two were used by Napoleon and the third belonged to General De Gaulle. They are symbolic of the permanent presence of power in the palace of Trianon and forerun the second part of the exhibition that will be held in 2016, and will be devoted to the history of the Grand Trianon from 1960 to today.
During the 1960s and thanks to André Malraux, Minister for Culture at the time, General de Gaulle decided to launch an extensive programme to renovate the palace in terms of its historical furnishings, aiming to transform it into a presidential residence for the needs of the French 5th Republic. The future exhibition will use various items and memories from the first President of the 5th Republic to review the major role played by Trianon in international relations.
From the 1960s to the 1990s the palace, which at the time hosted visitors to France in one wing, and housed the French President in Trianon-sous-Bois, was the location of grand and sumptuous receptions. After many years, in 2014, the tradition was renewed when the President of the Republic François Hollande received the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, for a private dinner.
The Burlington Magazine, July 2015
The eighteenth century in The Burlington:
The Burlington Magazine 157 (July 2015)
A R T I C L E S
• Peter Lindfield, “New Light on Chippendale at Hestercombe House,” pp. 452–56.
• Susan Owens, “A Note on Jonathan Richardson’s Working Methods,” pp. 457–59.
• Peter Moore and Hayley Flynn, “John Collett’s Temple Bar and the Discovery of a Preparatory Study,” pp. 460–64.
• Alycen Mitchell and Barbara Pezzini, “‘Blown into Glittering by the Popular Breath’: The Relationship between George Romney’s Critical Reputation and the Art Market,” pp. 465–73.
R E V I E W S
• Charles Truman, Review of Gerhard Röbbig, ed., Meissen Snuffboxes of the Eighteenth Century (Hirmer Verlag, 2013), p. 484.
• Maureen Cassidy-Geiger, Review of Haydn Williams, Turquerie: An Eighteenth-Century European Fantasy (Thames & Hudson, 2014), p. 487.
• J.V., Review of Ian Warrell, Turner’s Sketchbooks (Tate Publishing, 2014), p. 488.
• Robert O’Byrne, Review of the exhibition, Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690–1840, p. 509–10.
Exhibition | Fragonard’s Enterprise
Now on view at the Norton Simon:
Fragonard’s Enterprise: The Artist and the Literature of Travel
Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, 17 July 2015 — 4 January 2016
Curated by Gloria Williams Sander
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Study after Lionello Spada: Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (from the Palazzo Ducale, Modena), 1760–61, 18 x 13 inches (45 x 33 cm (Pasadena: Norton Simon Museum)
Before Jean-Honoré Fragonard ascended to the rank of one of the 18th century’s most popular painters, he studied at the French Academy in Rome, where he practiced the fundamental art of drawing as a method to hone his skills and to establish his own unique style. In Rome, he encountered his first patron, Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non (1727–1791). A passionate advocate of the arts, Saint-Non was an eager participant in the Grand Tour, the educational pilgrimage to Italy then in vogue throughout Europe. His voyage, made from 1759 to 1761, inspired him to chronicle this experience for an audience that shared his fascination with the peninsula. Saint-Non invited the young Fragonard to join in his tour through Italy’s illustrious cities. In exchange, Fragonard was tasked with making copies after the important paintings and monuments seen in the churches and palazzi. The black chalk drawings Fragonard produced for his sponsor served as source material for Saint-Non’s engravings and aquatints, which were published in suites, and in his illustrated travel book Voyage de Naples et de Sicile (1781–86). These immensely popular publications served as barometers of taste for the arts and as beloved reminders of the masterpieces visited.
Enthusiasm for classical antiquity and Neapolitan Baroque painting drew many tourists to Naples. Saint-Non enjoyed multiple visits to the city, and during Fragonard’s visit in March 1761, he created inspired copies after the masterpieces he visited in private and public spaces. Occasionally he combined subjects from different locations on one sheet of paper. St. Luke Surrounded by Angels, for example, was copied from a fresco by Giovanni Lanfranco in the Church of the Holy Apostles. On the same sheet, Fragonard flanked Luke’s figure with two prophets (Daniel and Habakkuk?) that caught his attention at the Certosa di San Martino, painted by the Spaniard Jusepe de Ribera. The result of this imaginative pastiche is so fluid that few would suspect it was a combination drawing.
With its sunlit canals and magnificent architecture, Venice proved irresistible to the Grand Tourist. Fragonard and Saint-Non passed more than a month there. Inspired by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, the French artist produced lively, free-spirited copies, as evidenced in his Study after Paolo Veronese’s Adoration of the Magi, 1582, from the Church of San Nicolò della Lattuga ai Frari. Fragonard shifted Veronese’s vertical format to a horizontal one, and deemphasized the architecture to concentrate on the rhythmic interweaving of the figures that he must have admired in the original.
The Norton Simon Museum owns 139 of the almost 300 drawings produced by Fragonard during this journey with his patron and friend. Approximately 60 drawings document their voyage to see the great artistic treasures of Florence, Bologna, and Padua, among other cities. Fragonard’s Enterprise explores the excitement of this expedition, the documentary and practical value of the drawings, as well as their history following publication, especially as they were treasured by later collectors.
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