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FRAGONARD , See also: JEAN-HONOR$ (1732-18o6), French painter, was See also: born at Grasse, the son of a glover
.
He was articled to a See also: Paris See also: notary when his See also: father's circumstances became straitened through unsuccessful speculations, but he showed such talent and inclination for See also: art that he was taken at the age of eighteen to Boucher, who, recognizing the youth's rare gifts but disinclined to waste his See also: time with one so inexperienced, sent him to Chardin's atelier
.
Fragonard studied for six months under the See also: great luminist, and then returned more fully equipped to Boucher, whose See also: style he soon acquired so completely that the master entrusted him with the execution of replicas of his paintings
.
Though not a pupil of the See also: Academy, Fragonard gained the Prix de See also: Rome in 1752 with a See also: painting of " Jeroboam sacrificing to the Idols," but before proceeding to Rome he continued to study for three years under See also: Van See also: Loo
.
In the See also: year preceding his departure he painted the " Christ washing the Feet of the Apostles " now at Grasse See also: cathedral
.
In 1755 he took up his abode at the French Academy in Rome, then presided over by Natoire
.
There he
benefited from the study of the old masters whom he was set to copy—always remembering Boucher's parting advice not to take See also: Raphael and Michelangelo too seriously
.
He successively passed through the studios of masters as widely different in their aims and technique as Chardin, Boucher, Van Loo and Natoire, and a summer sojourn at the See also: Villa d'See also: Este in the See also: company of the See also: abbe de See also: Saint-Non, who engraved many of Fragonard's studies of these entrancing gardens, did more towards forming his See also: personal style than, all the training at the various See also: schools
.
It was in these romantic gardens, with their fountains, grottos, temples and terraces, that he conceived the dreams which he was subsequently to embody in his art
.
Added to this influence was the deep impression made upon his mind by the florid sumptuousness of Tiepolo, whose See also: works he had an opportunity of studying in Venice before he returned to Paris in 1761
.
In 1765 his " Coresus etCallirhoe "secured his See also: admission to the Academy
.
It was made the subject of a pompous eulogy by See also: Diderot, and was bought by the See also: king, who had it reproduced at the Gobelins factory
.
Hither-to Fragonard had hesitated between religious, classic and other subjects; but now the demand of the wealthy art patrons of See also: Louis XV.'s pleasure-loving and licentious
See also: court turned him definitely towards those scenes of love and voluptuousness with which his name will ever be associated, and which are only made acceptable by the See also: tender beauty of his colour and the virtuosity of his facile brushwork—such works as the " Serment d'amour
(Love Vow), " Le Verrou " (The See also: Bolt), " La Culbute " (The Tumble), " La Chemise cnlevee " (The Shift Withdrawn), and " The See also: Swing " (See also: Wallace collection), and his decorations for the apartments of Mme du See also: Barry and the dancer See also: Marie See also: Guimard
.
The Revolution made an end to the ancien regime, and Fragonard, who was so closely allied to its representatives, See also: left Paris in 1793 and found shelter in the See also: house of his friend Maubert at Grasse, which he decorated with the series of decorative panels known as the " See also: Roman d'amour de la jeunesse," originally painted for Mme du Barry's See also: pavilion at Louvreciennes
.
The panels in See also: recent years came into the possession of Mr Pierpont See also: Morgan
.
Fragonard returned to Paris early in the rgth cen tury, where he died in 18o6, neglected and almost forgotten
.
For See also: half a century or more he was so completely ignored that Lubke, in his See also: history of art (1873), omits the very mention of his name
.
But within the last See also: thirty years he has regained the position among the masters of painting to which he is entitled by his See also: genius
.
If the appreciation of his art by the See also: modern See also: collector can be expressed in figures, it is significant that the small and sketchy " See also: Billet Doux," which appeared at the Cronier sale in Paris in 1905 and was subsequently exhibited by Messrs Duveen in See also: London (1906), realized close on D9,000 at the H8tel Drouot
.
Besides the works already mentioned, there are four important pictures by Fragonard in the Wallace collection: " The Fountain of Love," " The Schoolmistress," " A Lady See also: carving her Name on a See also: Tree " (usually known as " Le Chiffre d'amour ") and " The See also: Fair-haired See also: Child." The Louvre contains thirteen examples of his art,: among them the " Coresus," " The Sleeping Bacchante," " The Shift Withdrawn," " The Bathers," " The Shepherd's See also: Hour" (" L'Heure du berger "), and "Inspiration." Other :works are in the museums of See also: Lille, See also: Besancon, See also: Rouen, See also: Tours, See also: Nantes, See also: Avignon, See also: Amiens, See also: Grenoble, See also: Nancy, See also: Orleans,
See also: Marseilles, &c., as well as at See also: Chantilly
.
Some of Fragonard's finest See also: work is in the private collections of the See also: Rothschild See also: family in London and Paris
.
See R
.
Portalis, Fragonard (Paris, 1899), fully illustrated; Felix See also: Naquet, Fragonard (Paris, 189o) ; Virgile Jose, Fragonard—mceurs du XVIII" siecle (Paris, 1901); E. and J. de See also: Goncourt, L'Art du dix-huitieme siecle--Fragonard (Paris, 1883)
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