State of Fragonard

Fragonard continued...

During his apprenticeship with Boucher, Frago won the coveted Prix de Rome with his version of Jeroboam Sacrificing to Idols...he and the other contestants were shut up in their respective rooms for a week, working everyday with visions of St. Peter's Square and the Trevi Fountain and the Villa Borghese dancing in their heads. His prize was three years at the Academie de France in the Eternal City.

He spent his time copying and learning from the great Italian masters like Cortona and Tiepolo, studying under contemporary virtuosos like Natoire and Piranesi. Piranesi hasn't really been considered that big of an influence in Frago's work, but the man did draw and paint a number of romantic ancient ruins overgrown with shrubbery and trees--and his drafting method mirrors the printmaker's etching technique.

His instruction with Boucher began to shine through later, and riots of foreground foliage and muted blue-greens in the atmospheric distance provided the setting for his cutesy staged scenes. Landscapes reminiscent of his time spent pouring over Ruisdaels (at the behest of Boucher) flourish in his Tivoli paintings.

The State of Fragonard at his time in the Academie: a gander at Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli, just outside of Rome, photos provided by Mary Ann Sullivan, found at her spectacular site documenting her trip.

The Maritime Theater:


Nymphaeum on the south side of the Piazza D'Oro:

The Greek Library:

Doorway in the Piazza D'Oro:

The Canopus:



Drawing: J.H. Fragonard. The Belvedere of the Villa Aldobrandini at Frascati. c. 1759-60. Private Collection.
Painting: J.H. Fragonard. Le Petit Parc. c. 1761-1762. The Wallace Collection, London.

Swinging in the 60s--1760s, That Is


Since I'm on a Fragonard kick, I thought I'd better include a post solely about that infamous, scurvy, gorgeous painting, that little bugbear that would posthumously label him a puff in many eyes, the rococo masterpiece The Swing.

It happened one day that the baron de Saint-Julien, who held the position of receiver general of the Clergy of France, sauntered up to l'artiste du jour of the late 1760s--the painter Gabriel-Francois Doyen--and proposed a rather unusual request. Now Doyen was a good boy...there was no way in hell (literally, because he was under church patronage) that he was going to paint a picture of the baron and his beautiful young mistress on a swing being pushed by--gasp--the bishop! (The baron of course is the man gazing up at the young woman's, a-hem, legs.)

So. Doyen directed the baron to Fragonard, which is pretty revealing about our little Frago's reputation at the time, and he served it up, all pinks and blues.

It's full of Freudian symbolism; swinging implies sexual intercourse, while the twisting and writhing trunks and bursting flowers are indicative of the baron's sexual joy (and excruciation, with the presence of the bishop). And the Cupid raises his finger to his lips: "Shhh...a secret love affair!"

Works in Progress

Still painting away and honing my technique. I started painting this piece of Fragonard's Diana and Endymion last week...it's actually just a close-up of Endymion. He's just so beautiful, I had to try him for myself...and we have the original right here at the National Gallery in D.C.