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    Delphi Complete Works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Illustrated)
    Delphi Complete Works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Illustrated)
    Delphi Complete Works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Illustrated)
    Ebook583 pages2 hours

    Delphi Complete Works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Illustrated)

    By Peter Russell and Jean-Honoré Fragonard

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    About this ebook

    The leading exponent of the Rococo style, Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s paintings are characterised by remarkable facility, exuberance and frivolous hedonism. Regarded as one of the greatest colourists of art history, Fragonard produced stunning artworks that capture the spirit of the final days of the Ancien Régime, conveying intimacy and veiled eroticism. Delphi’s Masters of Art Series presents the world’s first digital e-Art books, allowing readers to explore the works of great artists in comprehensive detail. This volume presents Fragonard’s complete works in beautiful detail, with concise introductions, hundreds of high quality images and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1)
    * The complete paintings of Jean-Honoré Fragonard — fully indexed and arranged in chronological and alphabetical order
    * Includes reproductions of rare works
    * Features a special ‘Highlights’ section, with concise introductions to the masterpieces, giving valuable contextual information
    * Enlarged ‘Detail’ images, allowing you to explore Fragonard’s celebrated works in detail, as featured in traditional art books
    * Hundreds of images in colour – highly recommended for viewing on tablets and smart phones or as a valuable reference tool on more conventional eReaders
    * Special chronological and alphabetical contents tables for the paintings
    * Easily locate the paintings you wish to view
    * Includes a selection of Fragonard's drawings – explore the artist’s varied works
    * Features a bonus biography – discover Fragonard's artistic and personal life
    Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting e-Art books
    CONTENTS:
    The Highlights
    Blindman’s Buff
    Venus and Cupid
    Jeroboam Sacrificing to Idols
    Psyche Shows Her Sisters the Gifts She Received from Cupid
    The Captured Kiss
    The Storm
    The Small Park
    The Bathers
    Coresus Sacrifices Himself to Save Callirhoë
    The Swing
    Mademoiselle Guimard
    Love Letters
    The Education of the Virgin
    The Bolt
    A Young Girl Reading
    A Boy as Pierrot
    Forsaken
    The Vow to Love
    The Paintings
    The Complete Paintings
    Alphabetical List of Paintings
    The Drawings
    List of Drawings
    The Biography
    Fragonard by Haldane Macfall
    Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles or to buy the whole Art series as a Super Set

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDelphi Classics Ltd
    Release dateMay 1, 2018
    ISBN9781786565167
    Delphi Complete Works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Illustrated)

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      Book preview

      Delphi Complete Works of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Illustrated) - Peter Russell

      Jean-Honoré Fragonard

      (1732-1806)

      Contents

      The Highlights

      Blindman’s Buff

      Venus and Cupid

      Jeroboam Sacrificing to Idols

      Psyche Shows Her Sisters the Gifts She Received from Cupid

      The Captured Kiss

      The Storm

      The Small Park

      The Bathers

      Coresus Sacrifices Himself to Save Callirhoë

      The Swing

      Mademoiselle Guimard

      Love Letters

      The Education of the Virgin

      The Bolt

      A Young Girl Reading

      A Boy as Pierrot

      Forsaken

      The Vow to Love

      The Paintings

      The Complete Paintings

      Alphabetical List of Paintings

      The Drawings

      List of Drawings

      The Biography

      Fragonard by Haldane Macfall

      The Delphi Classics Catalogue

      © Delphi Classics 2018

      Version 1

      Browse our Art eBooks…

      Buy the entire Masters of Art Series at a reduced price

      Masters of Art Series

      Jean-Honoré Fragonard

      By Delphi Classics, 2018

      COPYRIGHT

      Masters of Art - Jean-Honoré Fragonard

      First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Delphi Classics.

      © Delphi Classics, 2018.

      All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

      ISBN: 978 1 78656 516 7

      Delphi Classics

      is an imprint of

      Delphi Publishing Ltd

      Hastings, East Sussex

      United Kingdom

      Contact: sales@delphiclassics.com

      www.delphiclassics.com

      Enjoying our Art series of eBooks? Then try our Classical Music series:

      A first of its kind in digital print, the Delphi Great Composers series allows digital readers to explore the works of the world’s greatest composers in comprehensive detail, with interactive links to popular streaming services.

      Explore the series so far…

      The Highlights

      Grasse, a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department, on the French Riviera — Fragonard’s birthplace

      Villa Musée Fragonard, Grasse

      Statue of Fragonard in Grasse

      The Highlights

      In this section, a sample of Fragonard’s most celebrated works is provided, with concise introductions, special ‘detail’ reproductions and additional biographical images.

      Blindman’s Buff

      Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born at Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes, in the extreme southeast corner of France. He was the son of François Fragonard, a glover, and Françoise Petit. From a young age, he was articled to a Paris notary when his father’s circumstances became strained, chiefly due to unsuccessful speculations. However, he demonstrated such an unmistakeable talent for art that he was taken at the age of eighteen to François Boucher, a leading French painter of the time. Boucher was known for his idyllic and voluptuous paintings on classical themes, decorative allegories and pastoral compositions. One of the most celebrated painters and decorative artists of the eighteenth century, Boucher established an impeccable reputation as an exponent of the Rococo style. This exuberantly decorative approach was the final expression of the Baroque movement. Testing to the extreme the principles of illusion and theatricality, Rococo artworks feature dense ornamental aspects, asymmetry, fluid curves and a prevalence for white and pastel colours, combined with gilding, drawing the eye in all directions. The Rococo style began in France in the early eighteenth century in the reign of Louis XV, as a reaction against the more formal and geometric Style Louis XIV. It quickly spread to other parts of Europe, particularly Bavaria, Austria, Germany and Russia. It also came to influence the other arts, particularly sculpture, literature, music and theatre, as Rococo artists found they could enjoy and experiment more liberally with a more jocular, florid and graceful approach to the Baroque.

      Boucher recognised the young Fragonard’s rare gifts, though he was reluctant to spend time with a pupil so inexperienced and so sent him to Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin’s atelier. Chardin was a master of still life and is also noted for his genre paintings, depicting kitchen maids, children and domestic scenes. Carefully balanced composition, a soft diffusion of light and granular impasto characterise his paintings and would have a lasting impression on Fragonard’s work. He continued his studies with Chardin for six months, before returning, though this time fully equipped, to Boucher. In short time, he acquired and mastered Boucher’s style so much so that the master entrusted him with the execution of replicas of his paintings.

      Originally ascribed to Boucher, Blindman’s Buff is now generally believed to be an early work of Fragonard, completed in 1752. The canvas is largely inspired by Boucher: a costumed pastoral, where youthful shepherds and pretty shepherdesses frolic and flirt in idyllic garden settings, dressed in exuberant light silks. The painting reveals a principal theme that will continue to dominate the paintings of Fragonard throughout his career: the playful battle of the sexes.

      In the composition, the male youth is in control, having blindfolded the young lady. He teases her vulnerable status, as he secretly leans over her shoulder and tickles her cheek with a straw. The girl is receptive to his advances, a spreading smile forms on her heavy reddened lips. She peeks under her blindfold, happy to continue with the illusion of the game. Her arms are outstretched as she feels her way, allowing the young artist to represent the intricate fold of her lucent blouse. The humble dwelling of the hut behind the couple supports the pastoral setting, a world away from urban cares.

      The canvas is notable for its typical Boucher palette, with clear and fresh colours, occasionally greyed down to produce harmony. Fragonard introduces warmth through the girl’s pink dress and the boy’s yellow shirt, as well as from the nearby trailing pink roses. This early interest in applying warm colours foreshadows the great colourist that Fragonard would become.

      Detail

      Detail

      Detail

      Detail

      Detail

      Detail

      Detail

      Portrait of François Boucher by Gustaf Lundberg, 1741

      ‘The Secret Message’ by François Boucher, 1767

      Self-portrait of Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1771

      ‘Boy with a Top’ by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, São Paulo Museum of Art, c. 1735

      Venus and Cupid

      This decorative painting portrays Venus, goddess of love, and her son Cupid in a gilded chariot. They handle garlands of roses, while being drawn through the clouds by a pair of white doves. The fanciful mood of the scene is enhanced through the artist’s use of a pastel palette.

      Held today in Dublin’s National Gallery, the painting was originally completed as one of a series of four over-door paintings that portrayed the times of the day. The other canvases in the series are The Three Graces (Dawn), Cupid Setting the Universe Ablaze (Dusk) and Night Spreads Her Veils (Night). They demonstrate the influence of Boucher, who had finished working on a pair of large sky pictures in 1752. The Rising of the Sun and The Setting of the Sun were commissioned by Madame de Pompadour as full-scale cartoons for the Gobelin tapestry on a private commission. The tapestries, finished in 1754 and 1755 respectively, briefly adorned the king’s bedroom in the château de Bellevue, located between Paris and Versailles near Sèvres. The château was a country house that had been built by Pompadour as a retreat for Louis XV, where important political meetings could be staged with some secrecy and reduced court ceremonial. Fragonard borrowed Venus’ chariot from the barque depicted in Boucher’s The Setting of the Sun and the doves are also sourced from another painting by his master. The garlands are intricately painted, using a small brush, adding to the impression of fine beauty. Venus’ body, displaying an unusually long right leg, also indicates the Mannerist technique of Boucher.

      In 1770 Madame du Barry, the chief mistress of Louis XV, purchased Fragonard’s series of four over-door paintings to decorate her château at Louveciennes. She paid 1,200 livres for the canvases and another 420 livres to have three of them enlarged, relined and retouched, presumably to fit in with her current decorative setting. In 1794 the paintings were seized at Louveciennes and later presented by Napoleon to Baronne Denot.

      Detail

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