The Matter at Work. Rediscovery of Fragonard's Lion

S A R A H C A T A L A

G A L E R I E

É R I C C O A T A L E M

P A R I S

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CONTENTS

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FRAGONARD

“A STRIKING STUDY PROUDLY DRAWN”

FANTASY AT WORK

FRAGONARD IN PRIVATE

CONCLUSION

SUMMARY CHRONOLOGY & BIBLIOGRAPHY

D

GALERIE ÉRIC COATALEM

136, FAUBOURG SAINT HONORÉ 75008 PARIS

T. 01 42 66 17 17 - F. 01 42 66 03 50

[email protected] - www.coatalem.com

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Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès, his sale,

Paris, 29-30 December 1777, no 14 “une étude frappante

et fièrement touchée; elle représente un lion. Hauteur 44

pouces, largeur 31 pouces. T. [A striking study proudly

drawn; it depicts a lion. Height 44 pouces, width, 31

pouces]” expert P.-A. Paillet; sold for 250 livres to

Mercier; possibly Pierre-Adolphe Hall (1739-1793)

collection, inventoried on 10 May 1778 “Fragonard

(…) Un lion dans la niche de la cheminée [estimé] 48 L.

[Fragonard (…) A lion in the niche of the chimney

[valued] 48 L]”; possibly baron de Staël collection;

Paris, Dominique-Vivant Denon sale, 1 May 1826, no

154 “Une esquisse d’un ton chaud et doré et touchée très

facilement, représentant un lion en repos. H. 37 pouces

et demi – L. 29 pouces et demi. T. [A sketch in warm

golden shades drawn with ease, depicting a lion

resting]”; private collection by descent.

Bibliography:

Portalis, 1889, p. 277, 282;

Nolhac, 1906, p. 152;

Wildenstein, 1960, no 116-117;

Mandel, Wildenstein, 1972, no 125-126;

exh. cat. Paris, New York, 1987-1988, under le no 78;

Cuzin, 1987, no D 60;

Rosenberg, 1989, p. 125-126;

Plinval de Guillebon, 2000, p. 161;

Alasseur, 2012, p. 106, no 13;

exh. cat. Karslruhe, 2013-2014, p. 124, note 2.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

(Grasse, 5 April 1732 – Paris, 22 August 1806)

A lion

Oil on canvas

83 x 100.5 cm

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we see again and again in museums, which astonish

us every time we are surprised and amazed by the

intelligence of a composition, of a style, a touch of

colour skilfully applied. But when a major painting

emerges from the past after nearly 200 years, by one

of the greatest artists of the 18th century we can only

rhapsodize about the fact that such masterpieces still

exist “in the wild”.

The reappearance of this spectacular painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, which had been

lost since the famous Vivant Denon sale in 1826, a great collector and first curator of the

Louvre, introduces a new aspect of the artist: a lion, reclining, powerful and lurking in the

shadows looks at us with amusement. We knew dogs, bulls, herds, but only a few rare

drawings of this subject allowed us to know that he was interested in the subject. Its style,

both rapid and impetuous is reminiscent of the portraits known as the Figures de Fantaisie

whose modernity and intelligence have been admired since the 18th century. Painted alla

prima, the artist has mixed his colours while they were still wet, such as in the background

which goes from brown to ultramarine blue with skilful handling of the brushes. With

nervous touches, white for the ground and brown for the head, Fragonard has not painted;

rather he has drawn with oil and even sculpted this wild animal with broad brushstrokes.

At least fifty years before Turner, Delacroix and Manet, we can only marvel at so much

freedom and mastery. We hope this rediscovery will allow connoisseurs to realise how

much great artists of all periods and especially the Old Masters, have created works that

are timeless due to the intelligence of their composition, their technique and their vision.

I wish to thank Sarah Catala especially for her skilful and passionate

research into the Varanchan family and especially for writing this

important text which should be of interest to all lovers of Fragonard.

A thought also for Jacques Hourrière, a surprising restorer who has

patiently found an intact painting with all its spontaneity under earlier

abundant restorations. Finally, I am grateful to Christophe Bocahue,

Thomas Hennoque, Elvire de Maintenant, Frédérique Mattéi, Manuela

de Paladines, Séverin Racenet, Dominique Serre and Jean Tournadre

for their valuable help.

ÉRIC COATALEM

The author wishes to express her gratitude to Éric Coatalem for his confidence,

Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey for the generosity of her considerable informed

advice and Martial Damblant, Jane MacAvock and Manuela de Paladines for

her valuable help. This work has benefitted from contributions from Romain

Condamine, Camille Debrabant, Marie-Noëlle Grison, Dagmar Korbacher and

Baptiste Mélès whom I also wish to thank.


A Lion (detail)

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before entering a private collection, Fragonard’s Lion was until today

kept hidden from view. Despite not being illustrated, the references to

it as a lost work in the early and more recent bibliography have prevented

it from sinking into oblivion. The Lion’s novel and innovative character

again confirm the variety and breadth of both Fragonard’s inspiration

and his technique.

Approaching this artist’s work requires doing without sources to tackle

the abstruseness of interpretation which can only be overcome by luck,

as has recently been the case with his famous Figures de Fantaisie

Like most of the four hundred or so works that comprise the artist’s

œuvre,(2) the Lion is not signed, nor is it dated. Since it was not among

the paintings which the painter exhibited at the Salon, or among those

advertised in the Mercure de France, the Lion is not mentioned by any

of Fragonard’s contemporaries.

However, a descriptive analysis followed by a study of visual and literary

analogies allows us to recall certain qualities specific to the artist such

as the demonstration of the materiality of his painting which forms a

dialogue with the Old Masters and to consider the place of animals,

especially the lion, within his artistic production. The depiction of this

animal reveals a little known side of Fragonard, since it links him

closely to the scientific and philosophical debates on the nature of species

that enlivened Parisian intellectual circles at the end of the Century

of Enlightenment.


Self-portrait turned three quarters to the Left c. 1778-1780, black chalk

130 x 102 mm

Paris, musée du Louvre, RF41191

INTRODUCTION

(1) - See the article by Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey

published on 12 july 2012 on the website La Tribune

de l ’Art (http://www.latribunedelart.com/

fragonard-and-the-fantasy-figure-painting-

the-imagination) and Blumenfeld, 2013.

(2) - Estimation based on the numbers published in

Cuzin, 1987 and Rosenberg, 1989.

ILLUSTRATION . 1

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in France, Fragonard worked in all the genres, in history painting with

religious, mythological and historical subjects as much as in the depiction

of scenes of everyday life or scenes of gallantry (Fêtes galantes). The

variety of Fragonard’s inspiration is combined with a perfectly mastered

technique that allowed him to diversify his manner, as if carried away

in a perpetual quest to renew his style. Research over the past number

of years by Pierre Rosenberg, Jean-Pierre Cuzin and Marie-Anne

Dupuy-Vachey has highlighted both the variety and depth of his work,

nourished by his knowledge of the Old Masters acquired from significant

travel abroad as proven by Sophie Raux and Amaya Alzaga Ruiz,(3) in

addition to great knowledge of literature as recently demonstrated by

Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey.(4) Carole Blumenfeld, who has endeavoured

to define the art and character of Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837), a

painter who was Fragonard’s sister-in-law, has contributed to a greater

knowledge of the methods used in the master’s studio.(5) Other

publications, produced by English and American scholars in particular,

have formulated interpretations for painted groups such as the Progress

of Love and the Figures de Fantaisie,(6) thus contributing to the development

of our knowledge of Fragonard’s art.

Born in Grasse to a family of merchants, Fragonard arrived in Paris at

the age of six. Seven years later, he joined a notary’s firm and attracted

attention for his interest in drawing which brought him to the studio

of the painter François Boucher (1703-1770). This painter sent the youth

for a time to Jean-Siméon Chardin (1699-1779) who taught him the basics

of the profession and then rounded off his apprenticeship by pushing

him to compete for the Grand Prix de Rome organized each year by the

Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, the winner of which

finished his training in Italy. In 1752, when he entered for the first time,

Fragonard won this prestigious competition with his Jeroboam Sacrificing

to the Idols (Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts). He attended

the École Royale des Élèves Protégés, directed at the time by Carle Van

Loo (1705-1765), until 1758 when he travelled to Rome. Being a pensionnaire

at the Palazzo Mancini, he was encouraged to make copies after the

Antique and the Old Masters whose beauty shook him, as the director

of the French Academy in Rome, Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777)(7)

noted. Landscape at the time was of major importance in Fragonard’s

artistic activity, almost as a personal outlet. Sometimes in the company

of the painter Hubert Robert (1733-1808) he drew, using red chalk

especially, the abandoned architecture of the past with lush vegetation

in situ. He preferred black chalk for his copies after the Old Masters with

which he filled his portfolios when he visited Naples before Bologna,

Venice and Genoa together with the Abbé de Saint-Non, his first patron.

The Italian and northern paintings observed during this stay form the

basis of his knowledge of art, from which he continued to draw inspiration

throughout his career.

FRAGONARD

- See Raux, 2007 and Alzaga Ruiz, 2013.

- For Fragonard’s works illustrating Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso,

La Fontaine’s Fables and Don Quixote by Cervantes,

see Dupuy-Vachey, 2003 and exh. cat. Paris, 2007.

- See exh. cat. Paris, 2009.

- See respectively Bailey, 2011 and Percival, 2012. The recent analysis

of the two versions of the Fountain of Love in Molotiu, 2007 should be added.

- See exh. cat. Paris, New York, 1987-1989, p. 67.

> ? @ A B C D A D E F G E @ H D A @ E I

Portrait of the Abbé de Saint-Non 1769

oil on canvas

80 x 65 cm

Paris, musée du Louvre

M.I. 1061.

ILLUSTRATION . 2

J K L M N O P Q R S R T U V R agréé at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de

Sculpture for his Corésus and Callirhoë (Paris, Musée du Louvre), which

aroused general enthusiasm when it was exhibited at the Salon in the

same year. Perceived as the reviver of History painting, Fragonard

turned away from a promising official career, preferring instead to

aim his work at private clients only. He then tackled many subjects for

which he adapted his manner in paintings that are not dated and for

which there is little documentation, complicating their chronology.

The creation of the famous painted sketches called Figures de Fantaisie

dated between 1768 and 1769(8) is followed by that of a series of four

panels on the theme of love, commissioned in 1771 to decorate the

interior of the Pavillon de Louveciennes for Madame du Barry (New

York, Frick Collection). The works were paid for and were hung before

being returned to the painter and replaced by paintings by Joseph-Marie

Vien (1716-1809). This misfortune was followed by a second one, that

of the abandonment of the decoration commissioned by Mademoiselle

Guimard for her house in Paris. The offer of a trip around Europe from

the Fermier Général Jacques-Onésyme Bergeret de Grancourt which

came at this time, appears to be providential. Together, the two men

accompanied by their families travelled around Italy during the autumn

of 1773, before going to Austria and Germany. On his return to France

in 1774, Fragonard renewed his style; the manner became more refined

while the colours softened under the influence of diffuse silvery light

on the paintings created after 1775 such as Le Verrou (Paris, musée du

Louvre) and the Fountain of Love (London, Wallace Collection) amongst

others. The Revolution upset Fragonard’s career and he decided to

withdraw for some time to his native Provence before moving back to

Paris during the Convention with the title of Curator of the Museum

Central des Arts. According to his grandson Théophile, during this

period, Fragonard, deprived of his clients, created many drawings

illustrating Ariosto’s (1474-1533),(9) Orlando Furioso, consisting of the

final example of his inspiration which had been so fertile (ill. 3).


Angelica is Chained to the Rock c. 1780-1790

black chalk, grey and brown wash highlights

393 x 257 mm

Washington, National Gallery of Art

inv. 1978.10.2.

ILLUSTRATION . 3

- From a study of the names of the models

shown on the drawing that shows the Figures

de Fantasie, Carole Blumenfeld has suggested

that the first of these portraits were

begun in 1768 and they were finished in 1769;

see Blumenfeld, 2013, p. 59-60.

- Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey

recorded 179 drawings in exh. cat. Paris, 2007,

p. 121, p. 122, note 2.

W X Y Z [ \ ] ^ _ ` Z a b b c Y _ Z d ] [ ] [ b \ ^ _ ` d b \ e c ^ \ ] [ \ ] f ^ Y _ [ \ d [ Y g ^ h b i d f [ Z _ b h d

in the harmony of colour, hardly hesitates in painting; his brush wanders

boldly, applying to each object its local colour, he unites together the

light & halftones; he joins these with shadows. The trace of this brush

whose path we must follow indicates freedom, confidence, finally

facility.” This definition of the word “facilité [facility]” written by

Claude-Henri Watelet for Diderot and d’Alembert’s Encyclopédie applies

perfectly to Fragonard’s manner, or rather his styles as he varies them

so much during his career. At the sale of the painting in 1777, the

catalogue drawn up by the expert Alexandre-Joseph Paillet (1743-1814),

records “A striking study proudly drawn; it depicts a lion.” Later, at the

Denon sale, reference is made to “A sketch in warm golden shades drawn

with ease, depicting a lion resting” In the absence of sources documenting

the Lion other than its rare appearances at auction, the inflection of the

touch remains a precious indicator of date.

Alla primaThe recumbent lion, squatting against a wall whose form is not defined,

turns its mouth and gaze towards the viewer. The simplicity of the

composition with its tight layout corresponds to the absence of anecdote,

which could almost limit the lion to the role of an archetype. Captured

from a slightly low angle, the feline occupies most of the surface of the

canvas, allowing a small amount of earthen floor and a neutral background

to be seen around it. The lion’s majestic silhouette stands out due to a strong

diagonal contrast of light and dark. It is not the wild animal’s ferocity, but

rather its strength that animates it, even in its stillness, and which Fragonard

has captured with the energy of his brush. The painter has covered the

canvas with warm monochrome shades of ochre going from crimson for

the background to golden yellow for the paws under the effect of the light,

captured by generous white impasto. Fragonard is lively, without being

allusive, in the construction of the volumes of the feline’s body built from

a multitude of thick and fine, long and short brushstrokes, which are

always quick and superimposed, sometimes intermingled, the paint not

“A STRIKING STUDY PROUDLY DRAWN”


A Lion (detail)

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evokes rather than conveys the animal’s mouth, and is complemented by

brown highlights defining the eyes and muzzle. Filled especially with oil,

the paint shines with short brush strokes from the mane to the fur of his

flank, while the accents elongate to define the animal’s tail. Broad impasto

in lighter shades shows the falling light, sliding fluidly on its paws, and

then emphasizes its claws. The smears in the background show how much

Fragonard, taken up by the speed of his gesture, has refrained from melting

the dark ochres and blue to mix them directly in the wet paint. In paying

special attention to the effects of light on the surfaces due to the vitality,

even the freedom of his touch, Fragonard gives solidity and life to the

feline whose calm is only apparent. In exploiting and using the richness

of the impasto’s visual effects applied with lively dexterity, Fragonard here

foils, like with the Figures de Fantaisie, the conventional categories of

paintings’ functions established from the quality of their finish.

Experimenting with spontaneity in working alla prima, in other words

creating a composition without any preparation so as to keep the creative

momentum intact, is frequent in Fragonard’s work. This act is nevertheless

preceded by research in the form of drawings which are sometimes

finished such as for the White Bull (ill. 4), or remain at the stage of a sketch

as recently shown for the Figures de Fantaisie.(10) Although there are

currently no known drawings closely related to the Lion, this intermediary

stage must be kept in mind. It certainly anticipates decisively Fragonard’s

gesture in generating the action of painting and which culminates in

the manner that is so vigorous at the end of the 1760s and which

unequivocally links the Lion more closely to the Figures de Fantaisie


The White Bull in the Shed oil on canvas

72 x 91 cm

Paris, musée du Louvre, RF 1975.10.

ILLUSTRATION . 4


A Lion (detail)

(10) - Exh. cat. Paris,

New York,

1987-1988,

n° 75-77, 79-80.

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(1696-1770), who Fragonard admired especially, the Figures de Fantaisie

and the Lion stand out in the relation between the artist and the Old

Masters. Indeed, the materiality of paintings of the northern schools

had a strong attraction for Fragonard, beyond which he went to make

it the subject of the painting itself.

While he was aspiring to capture the movement of the figures portrayed

in the Figures de Fantaisie, which are dated to 1768-1769, Fragonard seems

to have set himself the challenge of infusing dynamism when illustrating

the lion’s natural strength, although it is at rest. Several accounts confirm

the painter’s well known speed, with sarcasm when the miniature painter

Pierre-Adolph Hall (1739-1793) drew up the inventory of his collection

on 10 May 1778, noting regarding a painting by Fragonard “A head in

my opinion, in the time that he did portraits in one go for a Louis”, or

precisely as the old label stuck to the back of the portrait of the Abbé de

Saint-Non (ill. 2) says, being inscribed “painted in one hour of time”. The

observation expressed by Uwe Fleckner(11) about the hypothetical portrait

of Ange-Gabriel Meusnier de Querlon (Paris, musée du Louvre), which

had, until last year, been thought to show Denis Diderot(12) could apply

to the Lion: “Everywhere, the cloth of the linen canvas comes through

the sketch applied like a mist and which reminds the viewer of the

smudges that Jacques-Louis David and his disciples would use only a few

decades later to render the expressive power of the contrast between

background and figure. With Fragonard, the bust is nevertheless painted

with hardly any more precision than this bare background and moreover,

the few brushstrokes are applied to the canvas with extraordinary

confidence and without pentimenti. If the brushstrokes seem to be violent,

spontaneous, they do not appear in any way to the viewer, to have been

sketched hastily.” The choice of a range of warm colours is not the only

point in common between the Figures de Fantaisie and the Lion. Indeed,

on the Portrait of Anne-François d’Harcourt, duc de Beuvron (ill. 5), the

figure is emphasized by the background treated with dark brown smudges,

while on the Portrait of Gabriel-Auguste Godefroy (private collection),(13)

a few touches of red ochre and Prussian blue revive the colour of the shirt.

These same shades are applied respectively with a stroke of the brush on

the lion’s right eye and on its nose. They are also found on the Head of a

Bald Man (Amiens, Musée de Picardie), dated to the beginning of the

1770s, about which Pierre Rosenberg commented on “the incongruous

touch of steel blue on the model’s right shoulder”.(14) If this work, by its

The Search for Materiality in Painting


Portrait of Anne-François d’Harcourt, duc de Beuvron c. 1769

oil on canvas

80 x 120 cm

Paris, musée du Louvre

RF1970-32.

ILLUSTRATION . 5

- Fleckner,

2001, p. 510

- Blumenfeld,

2013, p. 40.

- Ibidem, p. 38-39.

- Exh. cat. Paris,

New York,

1987-1988,

n° 102.


A Lion (detail)

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the attention of art historians, a brief classification can be proposed.

Indeed, three species are frequently repeated in his paintings: the bull

relates to pastoral subjects, the donkey appears in genre scenes, and the

dog is often a key participant in erotic subjects. Except for the lion,

animals which the 18th century defined as “exotic” are absent from the

painter’s corpus.

Associated with the symbol of strength and power, the lion has for

a long time been a preferred allegorical figure for artists careful to

respond to the demands of their clients. The rare presence of lions

in Europe, all in captivity, led artists to use models circulated by

workshop copies, and from the 16th century from prints. Their

presentation at the Ménagerie Royale in Versailles allowing a few

painters to study the species from life, made anatomical knowledge

of the animals more precise without in any way lessening working

after the Old Masters.

Inspiration from the Old Masters“Fragonard is always alert to the paintings of others. His painting rustles

with dialogues”(15) because as Jean-Pierre Cuzin has emphasized, Fragonard

from his first trip to Italy, to the one to Germany in 1774, made a large

number of copies after the Old Masters. In Rome, the painter frequently

reproduced ancient works that dot public and private spaces, such as the

lion’s muzzle from a fountain in the Villa Medici.(16) In Naples, Fragonard

translated St. Mark and the Lion by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647) into

etching (ill. 6), then on the way back to France in 1761 in the company

of the Abbé de Saint-Non, he copied the Vision of St. Jerome which had

been painted by Johann Liss (c. 1595/1600-1631) around 1726 for the church

of San Nicolò da Tolentino.(17) The drawing is only known from its

counterproof and the etching (ill. 7) Fragonard created from it and these

are the first records of a recumbent lion appearing in his work.(18)

Fragonard included a lion on two sheets of figure studies in the Louvre(19)

(ill. 8-9) that relate to the expression of the passions at times in a satirical

FANTASY AT WORK

(15) - Cuzin, 1987, p. 38.

(16) - Rosenberg, Lebrun-Jouve, 2006, n° 86.

(17) - Exh. cat. Paris, New York, 1987-1988, n° 53.

(18) - See also the copy after Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (1609-1664)

in Venice and after the Antique in Rosenberg, Lebrun-Jouve, 2006, n° 35

and 43, then after the lions in the Palazzo Balbi in Genoa in exh. cat. Paris,

New York, 1987-1988, n° 56.

(19) - Exh. cat. Paris, 2003-2004, n° 10-11.


after Johann Liss

Vision of St. Jerome c. 1761-1765

etching

163 x 112 mm

London, British Museum, inv. 1882,0311.1151.


after Giovanni Lanfranco

Saint Mark c. 1761-1765

etching

116 x 92 mm


ILLUSTRATION . 7ILLUSTRATION . 6


Heads and Busts of Men, Women and Animals c. 1765, black chalk, 199 x 281 mm

Paris, musée du Louvre, inv. 26647.


The Triumph of Frederic-Henri of Orange Nassau after Jacques Jordaens1773, black chalk and brown wash

340 x 438 mm

Paris, musée de Louvre, RF 36737.


Group of Eleven Figures Attacked by a Lion c. 1765, black chalk, 199 x 281 mm

Paris, musée du Louvre, inv. 26646.

ILLUSTRATION . 9

ILLUSTRATION . 10

ILLUSTRATION . 8

� ¡ ¢ £ ¤ ¥ ¦ ¡ § ¨ £ © ¢ ¡ £ � ª « © £ ¥ ¬ ¡ § £ © ¥ continued to be the most valued source

for artists in the second half of the 18th century. Published in Amsterdam

in 1728 or 1729, it is divided into six volumes, each of which contains six

plates that the Frenchman Bernard Picart (1673-1733) engraved after his

own compositions and also after German, Dutch and French masters.

Between 1748 and 1788, the Recueil des lions, was superseded by the

publication in 36 volumes of the Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière

whose texts by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) were

accompanied by engravings after drawings by Jacques de Sève (1742-1788).

Ambitious in both its scientific approach and its format, the Histoire

naturelle counted among the French language publications that were

most often included in French 18th century libraries.

To understand Fragonard’s art, the question of reference making must

be addressed since it is on this that his originality is founded. Complex

because they are diverse, references relate to works by masters as much

as his own, thus displacing interpretation towards self-citation. When

he confronts the works of the Old Masters, Fragonard does not imitate

them but reappropriates them for himself as much in their forms as

their style.(23)

(20) - Exh. cat. Paris, 2007, n° 5.

(21) - See Dupuy-Vachey, 2003, n° 63, 68 and 151.

(22) - For more about Fragonard’s copy after Jordaens, see Alzaga Ruiz, 2013, p. 53, fig. 76-77.

(23) - See Raux, 2007.

manner, and then added another one on the Interrupted Sacrifice in the

museum of Vigo.(20) In his portrayals of wild animals, he goes beyond

works by Peter-Paul Rubens (1577-1640) and Jacques Jordaens (1593-1678)

depicting animal combats or including allegorical content, which the

painter saw during his trip to Flanders and Holland during the summer

of 1773. Indeed, among the three lions that appear in the illustrations to

the Orlando Furioso(21) (ill. 3) which occupied Fragonard towards the end

of his career, the one located in the lower left of Astolphe recovering his

Human appearance (private collection) precisely repeats the lion in the

copy after the Triumph of William of Orange by Jordaens conserved in

the Louvre (ill. 10).(22)

The Ménagerie at Versailles, designed by the architect Louis le Vau as

early as 1663, allowed domestic and wild animals to be admired sauntering

in the seven courtyards separated by railings. Pieter Boel (1626-1674),

François Desportes (1661-1743) and Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686-1755) devoted

themselves to studying the animals from life, which was completed by

work in the studio in order to paint a broad range of specimens. However,

the Ménagerie’s role was probably secondary in inspiring most artists

depicting animals, as can be seen in the series of Exotic Hunts for King

Louis XV. Indeed, the Lion Hunt painted by Jean-François de Troy

(1679-1752) in 1735, or the following year, the Leopard Hunt by François

Boucher (1703-1770) owe as much to engraved models as to scenes of

clashes between men and animals by Rubens. The Recueil des lions dessinés

� ® ¯ � ° ¯ ± ² ³ ´ µ ´ ¶ ± · ´ ¸ ¯ ¹

It is the intelligence of the artist’s vision of his predecessors’ work

that guide his confident gesture with emulation, a captivating example

of which is the Lion. To date, only three drawings showing this just

animal exist in Fragonard’s corpus: the sheets of studies of the Berlin

Kupferstichkabinet (ill. 11-12) and the wash drawing at the Albertina

in Vienna (ill. 13), all published without the working methods used by

the artist ever being clarified.(24) The Berlin drawings which consist of

studies of lions do not seem in our view to have been drawn from life,

because despite the distribution of the details of the animal’s body over

the surface of the sheet, which could have resulted from observation at

the Ménagerie Royale, several elements suggest that it is instead the

reinterpretation of one or several engraved models. Indeed, the five heads

of recumbent lions (ill.11), especially the two on the left of the sheet,

derive from the print by Picart who studied “ad vivum” as the letter

indicates (ill. 14). We find the elongated and rounded muzzle, as well as

the closed eyes with puffy eyelids. On the sheet, the only lion that

Fragonard depicts fully repeats exactly, although reversed, the pose of

Picart’s one. Later it was shown again with the suppleness of the wash

at the bottom of the sheet at the Sydney Art Gallery, which illustrates a

passage from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso (ill. 15).(25) On the second Berlin


Studies of Two Lions c. 1770, black chalk, 173 x 244 mm

Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. KdZ 12916.

Bernard Picard

Recueil des lions, dessinés d’après nature par divers maîtres c. 1728

etching, 132 x 184 mm

London, British Museum, inv. 1952,0117.14.102.


Astolfo puts the dragons and lions to flight with his magic horn c. 1790-1800

black chalk and brown wash, 399 x 272 mm

Sydney, Art Gallery, inv. 7.1982.


Studies of a Lion and Lions’ Headsc. 1770, black chalk, 143 x 165 mm

Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. KdZ 12917.Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Lion c. 1770, pen and brown ink, brown wash over black chalk underdrawing, 344 x 445 mm

Vienna, Albertina, inv. 12733.

ILLUSTRATION . 12

ILLUSTRATION . 14 ILLUSTRATION . 15

ILLUSTRATION . 11

ILLUSTRATION . 13

º » ¼ ½ - In the most recent publication of the lions in Vienna and Berlin (exh. cat. Karlsruhe, 2013, n° 42-43), the author of

the catalogue entry evokes the direct observation of the animals enclosed in the Ménagerie du Roi by the painters

Pieter Boel and Jean-Baptiste Oudry, before comparing Fragonard’s drawings with the engraved plates of the Recueil

des Lions and the Histoire Naturelle. However, the analysis does not go as far as a comparison and evades the question

of whether or not a lion was observed from life.

(25) - Orlando Furioso: Astolfo puts the dragons and lions to flight with his magic horn black chalk and brown wash, 399 x 272 mm,

Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, inv. 7.1982; for the connection to Ariosto see Dupuy-Vachey, 2003, n° 151.

¾ ¿ À Á Â Ã ill. 12), the artist has drawn the profile of a lion of the species

known “Atlas”, formerly called a “lion of Barbary”, whose spectacular

mane extends on the chest as far as the belly. One cannot fail to note the

dissimilarity between the species of lions on these sheets which cannot

be studies from life of a single specimen kept in captivity. Furthermore,

the lion in profile, which is very detailed in its stillness to respond to this

type of quick execution, corresponds perfectly to work in the studio

which would the artist would return to in the 1770s, with the fluidity of

the wash on the Vienna sheet. The profile all antica, in the antique manner

is reminiscent as much of sculptures Fragonard copied at the Palazzo

Balbi as the plates of Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle where each animal is

shown full length, in profile, in a landscape evoking its natural habitat

(ill. 16-17). The artist’s method reveals his ambitions, to the extent that

starting from the engraved widely circulated prototype of an animal,

he has created his own model by enriching it with his own imagination.

In our opinion we think this same process is used for the Lion painted

by Fragonard in 1769. The painter, who was working on the Figures de

Fantaisie at the time, increases the distance separating him from

engravings observed such as the one after Rembrandt which was inserted

in the Recueil des Lions (ill. 18). He has readjusted the elongated pose to

retain only the position of the paws which is so typical of the feline,

while the impasto of his brush models the lion in which all the species

are combined to create an archetype.

Our canvas exemplifies the vitality of Fragonard’s invention in 1769 which

is also expressed in the freedom of handling, without evading the depth

of reflection in the choice of subject, for which we suggest an interpretation.

Jacques de Sève

« Bull », Histoire naturelle by Buffon etching, 319 x 437 mm

Paris, bibliothèque nationale de France.

Jacques de Sève

« Lion », Histoire naturelle by Buffon etching, 344 x 445 mm

Paris, bibliothèque nationale de France.

ILLUSTRATION . 17ILLUSTRATION . 16


after Rembrandt

Recueil des lions, dessinés d’après nature par divers maîtresetching, 120 x 170 mm


ILLUSTRATION . 18


A lionoil on canvas

83 x 100.5 cm.

Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Å Ì Ê Í Ç Î Ç Ë Ì Í Ê É Ï Í Ë Ð Ñ É Ò Ó É Ð Ë Ê Ë É Å Ê É Ë Å È Ç Å Ê Ë É Å Ô Õ Ö × Ì É Å × Ö Æ Ô

whose aim was not to create a naturalistic depiction of a lion, was

nevertheless aware of Buffon’s work in the field of natural sciences. As

he had previously done for La Fontaine’s Fables, the illustration of which

punctuated Fragonard’s career from the outset until 1798(26) when he

seems to have begun the long series of drawings for Ariosto’s Orlando

Furioso, Fragonard without doubt carefully read the descriptions of the

bull and the lion in the Histoire Naturelle. Through the prism of this

personal reading, the painting of the lion constitutes the innovative

proof of Fragonard’s familiarity with the scientific and philosophical

currents of his time, which associated with the freedom of manner,

could only enchant the enlightened and faithful admirers of the painter.

A Moral PortraitUntil the appearance of the Lion, the bull was the only animal to be

treated as the sole subject of a painting, such as the famous White Bull in

the Shed (ill. 4). Regarding this canvas, after recalling its iconographical

origins in Dutch Art of the 17th century, Pierre Rosenberg noted in

conclusion almost thirty years ago: “Yet, in emphasizing the creature’s

power, in rendering its presence and its force, and in sacrificing the

anecdotal detail-contrary to his usual custom-Fragonard was innovative.

He was concerned less with depicting the animal’s physical appearance

than with portraying its character (as did the naturalist Buffon, in his

own field); this is the real subject of the picture.”(27) Here we propose

showing Buffon’s comparison of the morality of animals in Fragonard’s

work, which the exhibition catalogue format did not allow to be developed

and is a topic that has not been studied since.

In the Histoire Naturelle, the species are ranked in a hierarchy depending

on common characteristics and then according to qualities shared with

humanity, such as nobility, kindness and loyalty, without omitting

their servitude and dependence on human beings.(28) Thus, the bull is

considered to be the “most useful domestic animal”(29) for man since

it provides essential help for work in the fields, provides food from its

meat and milk from the female, and also contributes to increasing

financial resources through the sale of its skin or semen. The superior

and ideal criteria of the animal’s usefulness in the domestic context

swings towards that of domination for untamed species. According to

Buffon, the lion is incontestably placed at the top of the hierarchy of

wild animals since it is “not the pray of any (...) The lion having no

enemies other than man”.(30) The author continues his observations on

the change in the lion’s behaviour when extracted from its natural

habitat to be put under the authority of humans: “we have seen it

reduced in captivity, being bored without becoming embittered, on the

contrary, taking on gentle habits, obeying its master, flattering the

hand that feeds it”.(31) This passage seems to have attracted Fragonard’s

attention as he chose in the Vienna sheet to show the lion in majesty

FRAGONARD IN PRIVATE

- See exh. cat. Paris, 2007, p. 54-57.

- Exh. cat. Paris, New York, 1987-1988, n° 75, p. 168.

- Exh. cat. Paris, 1996, p. 78.

- Buffon, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du cabinet du roy, 1753, tome 4, p. 446.

- Buffon, Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière, avec la description du cabinet du roy, 1761, tome 9, p. 4.

- Ibidem, p. 7.


The Bull and the Dog c. 1770, pen and brown ink, brown wash over underdrawing in black chalk

319 x 437 mm, Vienna, Albertina, inv. 12734.

ILLUSTRATION . 19

Ø Ù Ú Û Ü Ý Þ Û ß Ú ß à á â ã Ù Ü à á ä ß â Ø å ß æ á ã Ø Þ á ç è æ Ø Þ Ü â Ø æ ä é à Ø à à ß ê ß Ù Ø Ú ß Ü â Ü ë

Buffon’s text sheds new light on the connection between the wash

drawings in Vienna illustrating a bull (ill.19) and a lion (ill.13), which

until now has been limited to their manner and subject, but never their

meaning. The emphasis Buffon places on the bull and the lion, which

Fragonard certainly read, enables us to consider that the two wash

drawings in Vienna were conceived as pendants, although we do not

know whether they were together before entering the collection of the

Duc de La Mure in 1787.(32) Nothing of the kind can be envisaged between

the painting of the Lion and the White Bull in the Louvre, due to the

years that probably separate their creation on the one hand and on the

other, due to the difference in their handling and formats.

In our painting the lion is in a resting position, an attitude undoubtedly

the result of its captivity. Indeed, this scene devoid of any anecdotal

dimensions contains several elements that refer to captivity: the tight

framing which reinforces the sensation of a closed universe, the animal

huddling against the wall with its mouth in shadow, and finally the light

projected with the violence of its brilliance diagonally on the ground. A

strong contrast, this comes from the viewer’s actual position, which is

easily placed behind the grid of a large window opening onto the enclosure

containing the animal. While we have no account other than the painting

itself – composition, the handling of the paint, the arrangement of the

light and shadow – and the visual sources referred to earlier, we suggest

that the Lion from its staging of an animal, constrained to immobility,

translates Buffon’s anthropocentric conception for whom the animal

world takes humanity as its reference and point of scale.(33)

- The dimensions of the Lion are 344 x 445 mm and the Bull 319 x 437 mm.

- For more on this, see exh. cat. Paris, 1996, p. 95.

(34) - The painting’s dimensions are inverted since in the 1777 auction catalogue, they are given as height. 119;

width 84 cm and in the 1826 sale as height 101; width 80 cm.

(35) -From an unpublished transcription by Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey of the posthumous inventory of Denon’s

property, she has kindly informed us that among Fragonard’s works, only the Sacrifice à la Rose is included

both in the inventory and in the auction catalogue (written communication dated 20 December 2014);

See the many Fragonard works collected by Denon in exh. cat. Paris, 1999-2000, p. 511.

(36) - Plinval de Guillebon, 2001, p. 71.

(37) - Alasseur, 2012, p. 100 et fig. 2.

(38) - Blumenfeld, 2013, p. 76-77, note 157.

ì í î ï ð ñ ò ó ô õ ö ÷ í ø î ù õ ô õ ö ú ñ õ ö û ï ü õ ø ö ý ò þ ï ö ø ÿ î Q î Lion

The last public appearance of the Lion painted by Fragonard was in an

auction catalogue of 1826.(34) This was the dispersal of the collection of

Dominique-Vivant Denon, the writer, diplomat, director of the short-

lived Musée Napoleon and well-informed collector. The Lion is not

recorded in the posthumous inventory of Denon’s property which was

prepared between 16 and 25 May 1825, like other works omitted but

included in the sale the following year.(35) In the monograph on the

miniaturist Hall published in 1867, Frédéric Villot considered that Denon

had acquired some of his collection after the death of the Baron de Staël

having himself bought Hall’s collection in which a Lion “in the niche of

the chimney”(36) is mentioned. The description is not precise enough to

allow confirmation on the basis of the work’s title that it corresponds to

the one belonging to Denon, and its function is not specified in 1826, any

more than it had been in 1777 when it appeared for the first time on the

art market. In that year, the extravagant bids at the Randon de Boisset

the Prince de Conti sales, which ended at that of an anonymous vendor

on 31 December, which several handwritten notes in the auction catalogue

name as “Varanchan”.(37) Confusion has reigned around this name, which

only increased as the bibliography on Fragonard grew during the 20th

century, and has recently been re-examined by Carole Blumenfeld who

has emphasized that “nothing proves that the collection sold at the end of

December 1777 came from a Varanchon [sic] de Saint-Geniès cabinet”.

However, an article by Philippe Alasseur that appeared in 2012 is

the only thorough analysis of the identity of the collector who sold

his property from 29 to 31 December 1777, whom he identifies as

� � � � � � � � � � ' � � � � � � � � � " ' � � � � � � � � � � � � l � � � � " ' � � � � � � � � Lion

while the “Horseman dressed in the Spanish style” reached only a price

of 61 livres. This work was cautiously identified in 2013 as the painter

Michel-Ange Challe (1718-1778) the reflectography process alone

allowing “chal” to be read, the first four letters written on the sketch of

the Figures de Fantaisie under the portrait corresponding to the Horseman

sitting near a Fountain dressed in the Spanish style. Since the last two

letters are not recognizable “Challu” which corresponds to the “Fermier

Général Geoffroy Chalut de Vérin (1705-1787) who was in fact the

brother-in-law of the said Varanchon [sic] de Saint-Geniès” as Carole

Blumenfeld specified, was perhaps rejected too quickly in favour of the

draughtsman of the Menus-Plaisirs, “Challe”. Indeed, Geoffroy Chalut

de Vérin, the husband of Elisabeth Varanchan who was Joseph-François’s

sister and gave lodgings to her nephew Paul, had assembled in her house

on the Place Vendôme as it is now known, a remarkable collection of

paintings which was mentioned at the time in the guides to Paris. The

predominance of the Fermiers Généraux portrayed on the Figures de

Fantaisie which appeared in view of the new proposed identifications


Horseman sitting near a Fountain dressed in the Spanish style c. 1769

oil on canvas

94 x 74 cm

Barcelona, Museu Nacional d'Arte

de Catalunya.

ILLUSTRATION . 20

- See Alasseur, 2012, in particular the annex, p. 103 which mentions the essential documents for the work done, complemented by the

article “le cabinet de monsieur Varanchan” on his blog (http://fondsdetiroir.com/le-cabinet-de-monsieur-varanchan/), as well as

“Entre Cour et Ferme” which specifies the links and pseudonyms used by the members of the Varanchan family (http://fondsdetiroir.

com/entre-cour-et-ferme/).

- Alasseur, 2012, p. 101 et p. 104, note 31.

- Ibidem, p. 102.

- Cat. exp. Paris, 2007-2008, p. 20 et p. 26, note 11.

- Alasseur, 2012, p. 102.

Joseph-François Varachan de Saint-Geniès (1723-after 1797).(39) This

historian lists the many proposed identifications of “Varanchan” which

Georges Wildenstein was the first to assimilate, in 1960, with Joseph

François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès, Maître d’Hôtel Ordinaire of the

Comtesse de Provence, former Lieutenant-Colonel in the service of the

King of Spain who died precisely around 1777-1778.”(40) Supported by

sources consulted in the archives, Philippe Alasseur has proven that

Joseph-François left the French court in March 1777 after selling

his position of Maître d’Hôtel, ensuring its survival, to his son Paul

(c. 1748-1820), certainly in view of his departure for Spain where his

presence is recorded in 1780(41), and which could explain the dispersal of

his collection of objects of various types: furniture, Chinoiseries, sculptures,

paintings and drawings, including the Horseman sitting near a Fountain

dressed in the Spanish style (ill. 20) and the Lion, both painted by Fragonard.

“When Fragonard was beginning to become known, the father of a

Fermier Général regularly came to his place and gathered a few sketches

and enjoyed himself laughing with him, and gave him a few cakes or

other confections which he knew the young artist liked and with which

he had the precaution of filling his pockets. For a few sous he carried

off spirited sketches, to sell them on for bags of money,” recounts

Louis–Sébastien Mercier in his notes transcribed by Marie-Anne Dupuy-

Vachey who dates them to the 1780s(42) about the interest in Fragonard’s

work of individuals linked to the Fermier Général. We agree with Mark

Ledbury’s suggestion that a member of the Varanchan family be

recognized as this “father of a Fermier Général”, and add that it cannot

be Joseph-François whose son Paul acquired the position of Fermier

Général in 1775. “This man acted a little like the Spanish towards the

Indians who did not know the value of the exchange”, concludes Mercier

who continues the allusion to Joseph-François, a former officer at the

Spanish court, who he may have known personally since he had lent

23,500 livres to his brother, a partner of the expert Paillet in charge of

the 1777 sale.(43) The 1777 sale brought in over 20,000 livres, the Bathers

� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �

the horseman in Barcelona noted by the art historian Romain

Condamine,(44) encourage us rather to identify the model with the

Fermier Général Chalut de Vérin. Perhaps the Spanish style costume

that was so fashionable and Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès’s

connections encouraged the acquisition of this portrait from Fragonard

in 1769, the year we proposed above for the creation of the Lion. In 1769,

the lieutenant-colonel who was not yet working for the French court,

frequently travelled abroad, but was present in the Paris region, at

Noisiel to attend a baptism as godfather on 29 July.(45) We suggest

that Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès, father of Paul de

Varanchan, the future Fermier Général made the most of his passage

close to the capital to visit his friends and family and to acquire from

Fragonard the Horseman sitting near a Fountain dressed in the Spanish

style(46) in which he certainly would have appreciated the features of his

brother-in-law Geoffroy Chalut de Vérin and the Lion for modest amounts

which however his position as a military officer allowed. This is precisely

the benefit he drew from the sale of the Lion and of the ten other paintings

and 18 drawings by Fragonard recorded in the 1777 catalogue,(47) which

Louis-Sébastien Mercier seems to echo. Joseph-François Varanchan de

Saint-Geniès’s marked interest in Fragonard incontestably places him

among the greatest collectors of his time.

- According to Romain Condamine who is preparing a doctoral dissertation entitled “Charles Michel-Ange

Challe (1716-1778)” at the Université Paris-IV supervised by Jérôme de La Gorce, major physical

dissimilarities relating mainly to the shapes of the nose and the lower part of the face between the

known portraits of Challe and the Barcelona portrait. In addition, none of the archival documents

relating to Michel-Ange Challe or his entourage refer to any connection whatsoever between Fragonard

and the designer of the Menus Plaisirs (written communication 12 December 2014).

- Alasseur, 2012, p. 103.

- Carole Blumenfeld reiterates that sitters portrayed in 18th century auction catalogues were not named,

except for members of the royal family; see Blumenfeld, 2013, p. 65.

- Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès Sale, Paris, 29-30 December 1777, n° 12-19, 32 for the paintings

and n° 56-66, 76 for the drawings.

S � � Lion painted by Fragonard around 1769 confirms his freedom,

thanks to a style renewed at that time as much as his imagination was

nourished from reading, which his contemporaries appreciated. Its

novel character, the rarity of the animal subject in the painter’s œuvre

the choice of its composition in connection with Buffon’s Histoire

Naturelle, like its many points in common with the Figures de Fantaisie

its provenance which was formerly a mystery, but is now prestigious

from the collection of Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès,

complete the Lion’s inclusion among Fragonard’s most surprising

creations, those even that reveal strongly the independence of his mind.

Ranging from the official commissions of portraits of King Louis XV’s

dogs by Oudry to the more intimate Dog of Bergeret de Grandcourt

François-André Vincent (1746-1816), animal portraiture was continually

in the spotlight during the 18th century in France. Fitting into this

context, the Lion contains known visual references such as Picart’s Recueil

des Lions while also calling upon the most innovative intellectual

resources, especially in the scientific domain with Buffon’s illustrated

text. Intended for the private contemplation of a member of the close

circle already powerfully convinced by Fragonard’s art, the portrait of

the wild animal is painted in a manner that is equally personal and

audacious, like the Figures de Fantaisie. Fragonard, conscious of being

liberated from the obligation to seduce a wide public comparing his

paintings with those of other artists, has given free rein to his handling

of the brush. In choosing to depict captive and at rest the species that

is moreover the symbol of strength and domination of the animal

world, Fragonard has rendered the natural majesty of the lion with his

fleeting brush. This visual ambition goes hand in hand with the

intellectual character of the painting, in accordance with the process

also at work for the portraits of the Figures de Fantaisie.

CONCLUSION

D 35

� � � " � � � l � � � � � � � � Lion and this portrait series which continues to

be the source of the painter’s fame is obviously due to their handling and

consequently to their innovative characters, as well as those for whom

they were intended. In seeking to clarify the uncertainties of the Lion’s

provenance, or rather the identity of its mysterious first owner, the famous

“Varanchan” whose name appeared in some annotations on copies of the

catalogue of the sale of 29 to 31 December 1777, we have followed Philippe

Alasseur’s proposal to identify the collector with the personality of

Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès. The catalogue of the sale

which also included the portrait of a Horseman Dressed in the Spanish

Style, forming part of the Figures de Fantaisie group has encouraged us

to suggest identifying this portrait with the Fermier Général Geoffroy

Chalut de Vérin. We hope, in addition to closing a gap in Fragonard’s

corpus with the rediscovery of the Lion, to have begun putting into

perspective the links connecting Fragonard to one of the most important

contemporary collectors, Joseph-François Varanchan de Saint-Geniès

whose identity had been confused with other members of his family for

over two centuries, to the point that even his existence was questioned,

a person whose taste for Fragonard’s rapid strokes of the brush was evoked

in the catalogue of the sale of his property “There are certain classes of

amateurs who supremely enjoy a single sketch, they seek the soul & the

thoughts of the man of genius they know they are seeing and recognize.”

Born in Grasse.

Probable date of the Fragonard family’s arrival in Paris.

Apprenticeship with the painters Jean-Siméon Chardin and François Boucher.

Fragonard wins the Grand Prix de Rome at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture. He enters the École Royale des Élèves Protégés where he remains until 1758.

Sojourn at the Académie de France in Rome. Fragonard visits Tivoli in 1760 and Naples in 1761 with the Abbé de Saint-Non.

Return to France.

Fragonard becomes agréé at the l’Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture with the presentation of his Coresus and Callirhoë (Paris, musée du Louvre). The painting is exhibited at the Salon where it is received with great success. Fragonard is allocated housing in the Louvre.

Exhibits at the Salon for the last time. Probable date of the commission for The Swing (London, Wallace Collection).

Marries Marie-Anne Gérard (1745-1823), a miniature painter, who gives birth to their daughter Rosalie. Begins to create his Figures de Fantaisie.

Commission from Mademoiselle Guimard of a decorative scheme for the salon of her hôtel particulier on the rue d’Antin in Paris.

Madame du Barry commissions panels on the theme of the Four Ages of Love for her pavillon at Louveciennes.

Travels to Flanders, then Italy, accompanying the Fermier Général Jacques-Onésyme Bergeret de Grandcourt. The journey continues to Austria and Germany in 1774.

Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837), Fragonard’s sister-in-law becomes his pupil in Paris before becoming his assistant.

Birth of Fragonard’s son, Alexandre-Evariste († 1850), who would later become a well-known painter.

Death of Rosalie near Paris.

The Fragonard family moves to Grasse.

Fragonard is appointed curator of the Museum Central des Arts, the future Louvre museum.

An Imperial decree evicts the artists living in the Louvre palace.

Fragonard dies in Paris.

1732

1738

1747-1748

1752

1758-1761

1761

1765

1767

1769

177o

1771

1773-1774

1775

178o

1788

179o-1791

1793-18oo

18o5

18o6

SUMMARY CHRONOLOGY

Bibliography based on the chronology prepared by Marie-Anne Dupuy for the exh. cat. Paris, New York, 1987-1988.

� � � � � ! " # $ % #

Philippe Alasseur, “Varanchan, collectionneur d’art au XVIIIe siècle : tentative d’identification. Sa vente du 29 au 31 décembre 1777”, Les Cahiers d’Histoire de l’Art, 2012, no 10, p. 98-112.

ALZAGA RUIZ, 2013

Amaya Alzaga Ruiz, “Vienne, Saxe, Mannheim”, La Revue de l’Art, 2013, no 181, p. 25-33.

BAILEY, 2011

Colin B. Bailey, Fragonard’s Progress of love at the Frick Collection, Londres and New York, 2011

BLUMENFELD, 2013

Carole Blumenfeld, Une facétie de Fragonard: les révélations d’un dessin retrouvé, Montreuil, 2013.

CUZIN, 1987

Jean-Pierre Cuzin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard. vie et œuvre. Catalogue complet des peintures, Fribourg, 1987.

CUZIN, SALMON, 2007

Jean-Pierre Cuzin, Dimitri Salmon, Fragonard: regards croisés, Paris, 2007.

DUPUY-VACHEY, 2003

Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, Fragonard et le « Roland furieux », Paris, 2003.

FLECKNER, 2001

Uwe Fleckner, “‘Pourquoi une belle esquisse nous plaît-elle plus qu’un beau tableau ?’ Fragonard, Diderot et l’éloquence du pinceau dans quelques portraits du XVIIIe siècle”, in Thomas Gaehtgens, Christian Michel (dir.), L’art et les normes sociales au XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 2001, p. 509-533.

MANDEL, WILDENSTEIN, 1972

Daniel Wildenstein, Gabriele Mandel Khân, L’opera completa di Fragonard, Milan, 1972.

MOLOTIU, 2007

Andrei Molotiu, Fragonard’s allegories of Love, Los Angeles, 2007.

NOLHAC, 1906

Pierre de Nolhac, J.-H. Fragonard, 1732-1806, Paris, 1906

PERCIVAL, 2012

Melissa Percival, Fragonard and the Fantasy Figure. Painting the Imagination, Farnham , 2012.

PLINVAL DE GUILLEBON, 2000

Régine de Plinval de Guillebon, Pierre Adolphe Hall 1739-1793: miniaturiste suédois, peintre du roi et des enfants de France, Paris, 2000.

PORTALIS, 1889

Roger Portalis, Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son œuvre, Paris, 1889.

RABREAU, 2007

Daniel Rabreau (dir.), Coresus et Callirhoe de Fragonard: un chef-d’œuvre d’émotion, Bordeaux, 2007

RAUX, 2007

Sophie Raux, “Le voyage de Fragonard et Bergeret en Flandre et Hollande durant l’été 1773”, La Revue de l’art, 2007, no 156, p. 11-28.

ROSENBERG, 1989

Pierre Rosenberg, Tout l’œuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris, 1989.

ROSENBERG, LEBRUN-JOUVE, 2006

Pierre Rosenberg, Claudine Lebrun-Jouve, Les Fragonard de Besançon, Milan, 2006.

WILDENSTEIN, 1960

Georges Wildenstein, Fragonard, London, 1960.

BARCELONA, 2006-2007

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806): orígenes e influencias: de Rembrandt al siglo XXI, Barcelone,

CaixaForum Centro Social y Cultural, 10 November 2006 – 11 February 2007 (cat. by Jean-Pierre Cuzin).

FONTAINEBLEAU, VERSAILLES, 2003-2004

Animaux d’Oudry : collection des ducs de Mecklembourg-Schwerin, Fontainebleau, Musée national du château

de Fontainebleau, 5 November 2003 – 9 February 2004; Versailles, Musée national des châteaux de Versailles

et de Trianon, 5 November 2003 – 8 February 2004 (cat. by Vincent Droguet and Xavier Salmon).

KARLSRUHE, 2013-2014

Fragonard. Poesie & Leidenschaft, Karlsruhe, Staatlichen Kunsthalle, 30 November 2013 – 23 February 2014

(cat. edited by Astrid Reuter).

PARIS, 1996

L’animal miroir de l’homme: petit bestiaire du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, Musée Cognacq-Jay, 30 January – 12 May 1996.

PARIS, 1999-2000

Dominique-Vivant Denon, l’œil de Napoléon, Paris, musée du Louvre, 20 October 1999 – 17 January 2000

(cat. edited by Marie-Anne Dupuy).

PARIS, 2003-2004

Fragonard, Paris, musée du Louvre, 3 December 2003 – 8 March 2004 (cat. by Jean-Pierre Cuzin).

PARIS, 2007-2008

Fragonard: les plaisirs d’un siècle, Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, 3 October 2007 – 13 January 2008

(cat. by Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey).

PARIS, 2009

Marguerite Gérard: artiste en 1789, dans l’atelier de Fragonard, Paris, Musée Cognacq-Jay,

10 September – 6 December 2009 (cat. by Carole Blumenfeld and José-Luis de Los Llanos).

PARIS, NEW YORK, 1987-1988

Fragonard, Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, 24 September 1987 – 4 January 1988; New York,

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2 February – 8 May 1988 (cat. by Pierre Rosenberg assisted by Marie-Anne Dupuy).

STRASBOURG, TOURS, 2003-2004

L’apothéose du geste: l’esquisse peinte au siècle de Boucher et Fragonard, Strasbourg, Musée des beaux-arts de Strasbourg,

7 June – 14 September 2003; Tours, Musée des beaux-arts, 11 October 2003 – 11 January 2004

(cat. by Dominique Jacquot and Sophie Join-Lambert).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books and Articles Exhibition Catalogues

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Gérard Blot : ill. 1

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Daniel Arnaudet : ill. 2

ourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington : ill. 3

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / René-Gabriel Ojéda : ill. 4

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Christian Jean : ill. 5

he Trustees of the British Museum : ill. 6, 7, 14 et 18

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Michèle Bellot : ill. 8 et ill. 9

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux : ill. 10

PK, Berlin, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Volker-H. Schneider : ill. 11 et ill. 12

lbertina Vienna 2014 : ill. 13 et 19.

rt Gallery of New South Wales D.R. : ill. 15

uséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image du MNHN, bibliothèque centrale : ill. 16 et 17

e Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Images : ill. 20.

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Gérard Blot: ill. 1

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Daniel Arnaudet: ill. 2

ourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington: ill. 3

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / René-Gabriel Ojéda: ill. 4

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Christian Jean: ill. 5

he Trustees of the British Museum: ill. 6, 7, 14 and 18

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Michèle Bellot: ill. 8 and ill. 9

MN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux: ill. 10

PK, Berlin, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Volker-H. Schneider: ill. 11 and ill. 12

lbertina Vienna 2014: ill. 13 and 19.

rt Gallery of New South Wales D.R.: ill. 15

uséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image du MNHN, bibliothèque centrale: ill. 16 and 17

e Agostini Picture Library / Bridgeman Images: ill. 20.

Traduction : Jane MacAvock

Composé en : Foundry Monoline / Old Style / Wilson

Achevé d’imprimer sur les presses de l’Imprimerie : Deckers Snoeck

le 26 février 2015

Conception graphique : Studio Martial Damblant

Translation: Jane MacAvock

Composed in: Foundry Monoline / Old Style / Wilson

Printing completed on the presses of the Imprimerie: Deckers Snoeck

on 26 February 2015

Graphic Design: Studio Martial Damblant

Crédits photographiquesPhotograph Credits

ColophonColophon

The Matter at Work. Rediscovery of Fragonard's Lion

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