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Invocation to Love

Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1732–1806; born Grasse, France; died Paris, France
x1965-37
After studying with Chardin and Boucher in Paris, and with Natoire at the Académie de France in Rome, Fragonard left the expected path of official patronage to work for private collectors, who admired the “fire” and “genius” of his exuberant, fluid brushwork. This quality is conveyed in his freely executed landscapes, genre scenes, and amorous allegories, such as this one. In a lush outdoor setting, a young woman swathed in billowing drapery hurls herself desperately before a statue of Eros, the god of love, whose blindfold conveys indifference to her plight. While the scene is distinctly romantic in character, the references to antiquity, including the figure’s sandals and her cameo-like profile, indicate Fragonard’s adaptation to the emerging neoclassical style in late eighteenth-century France.

Information

Title
Invocation to Love
Medium
Brush and brown ink and brown wash over black chalk
Dimensions
35.4 x 46.3 cm (13 15/16 x 18 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Miss Margaret Mower for the Elsa Durand Mower Collection
Object Number
x1965-37
Culture
Type

<p>1781, M. de Sireul, sale of his cabinet, December 3, no. 241.<br>1857, M. Marcille, sale after his death, March 4-7, no. 416;<br>1880, H. Walferdin, sale after his death, April 12-16, no. 185;<br>1880, bought by H. de Turenne;<br>M. le Comte Arthur de Vogue;<br>M. Sigismund Bardac;<br>Mme. Debussy;<br>M. Jean Bartholoni, Paris;<br>Richard S. Davis, Minneapolis, Minn.;</p><p>Seiferheld &amp; Co;<br>bought by Miss Margaret Mower, New York;</p><p>Gifted to Princeton University Art Museum </p>