Fragonard, Jean-Honoré

(1732-1806)

   painter

   A leading French painter of the rococo age, Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born in Grasse and studied in Paris with jean-baptiste chardin and especially François boucher, from whom he developed his style. In 1752, he won the Prix de Rome with Jeroboam Sacrificing to the Idols. He then went to Italy (1756) and was influenced by the works of Francesco Solimena and Giambattista Tiepolo. Befriending hubert Robert, Fragonard met the Abbé de Saint-Non, antiquarian and engraver, and with them visited the Roman countryside. He then did numerous sketches and painted landscapes (The Gardens of the Villa d'Este) and portraits (The Abbé de Saint-Non in Spanish Costume, 1759). In spite of his success through his show at the Academy of Painting and sculpture (The High Priest Coresus Sacrificing Himself to Save Callirhoe, 1765), he quickly abandoned the painting of historical themes. with The Happy Accident of the Swing (1766), he acquired the reputation of a painter of libertine scenes that were much sought after (The Removed Shirt, Young Girl Playing with Her Dog, Le Feu aux poudres). These sensual and graceful works, always playful and spirited, show the virtuosity of Fragonard's technique. He painted very quickly, often leaving in his picture the appearance of an outline. He expressed all the nuances of amorous sentiments (the four panels of The Progress of Love, 1771-72) and was also a sensitive landscapist and alert chronicler (The Fair at Saint-Cloud, 1775). He went a second time to Italy (1773) and, after his marriage, painted numerous familiar and sentimental allegorical scenes and portraits of children that recall jean-baptiste greuze. In his later years, Fragonard was influenced by neoclassicism and did works in a very different vein, sometimes even melancholy, that foreshadow romanticism.