In the work of Fragonard, by comparison, for example, with that of Boucher, finish is a relative term. Here, over a brown tone, Fragonard shapes the composition in darker shades of brown, drawing and modeling with the tip of the brush and with strokes of varying thickness. Color and white are confined to passages under strong light toward the center of the canvas: the young woman's powdered face, her dress and cap, writing surface and stool, flowers and dog.

It has never been possible to decipher the inscription with any degree of certainty, to identify the model, or to decide whether this famous canvas from the early 1770s should be read as a portrait or a genre scene.

Forthcoming

Inscription: Inscribed (on letter): [?] AMonsieur or Monsieur / [?] Mon [?] C[a or u]vallier

baron Félix Sébastien Feuillet de Conches, Paris (by 1860–d. 1887); Mme Jagerschmidt, Paris (in 1897); Ernest Cronier, Paris (d. 1905; his estate sale, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, December 4, 1905, no. 7, for Fr 420,000, to Kraemer and Wildenstein); [Gimpel & Wildenstein and Eugène Kraemer, Paris, 1905–at least 1907; sold to Bardac]; Joseph Bardac, Paris (by 1909–19; sold to Gimpel & Wildenstein); [Gimpel & Wildenstein, Paris and New York, 1919; sold for $44,940 to Bache]; Jules S. Bache, New York (1919–d. 1944; his estate, 1944–49; cats., 1929, unnumbered; 1937, no. 50; 1943, no. 49)

Paris. Galerie Martinet. "Tableaux et dessins de l'école française, principalement du XVIIIe siècle, tirés de collections d'amateurs," 1860, no. 133 (as "Le Billet doux," lent by M. le Baron F. de Conches).

Paris. Palais de la Présidence du Corps Législatif. "Ouvrages de peinture exposés au profit de la colonisation de l'Algérie par les Alsaciens-Lorrains," April 23, 1874, no. 160 (as "Portrait de Femme," lent by M. Feuillet de Conches).

Paris. École des Beaux-Arts. "Portraits de femmes et d'enfants," April 30, 1897–?, no. 59 (as "Femme avec un petit chien," 80 x 62 cm, lent by Mme Jagerschmidt).

Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition Chardin et Fragonard," June–July 1907, no. 146 (as "Le Billet doux," lent by Eugène Kraemer and Wildenstein).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition," May 8–August 1920, unnumbered cat. (p. 10, as "The Billet Doux," lent by Jules S. Bache).

Reinhardt Galleries. "Paintings from Memling, Holbein and Titian to Renoir and Picasso," February 27–March 17, 1928, no. 15 (lent by Jules S. Bache).

Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "French Art of the XVIII Century," 1929, no. 10 (lent by Jules S. Bache [see Ref. Sterling 1955]).

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "French Art: 1200–1900," January 4–March 12, 1932, no. 215 (lent by J. S. Bache).

San Francisco. California Palace of the Legion of Honor. "French Painting from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day," June 8–July 8, 1934, no. 30 (lent by Jules S. Bache, New York).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "French Painting and Sculpture of the XVIII Century," November 6, 1935–January 5, 1936, no. 46 (lent by Jules S. Bache).

Cleveland Museum of Art. "Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition," June 26–October 4, 1936, no. 60 (lent by Jules S. Bache).

Paris. Palais National des Arts. "Chefs d'œuvre de l'art français," July–September 1937, no. 114 (lent by Jule S. Bache).

New York. World's Fair. "Masterpieces of Art: European & American Paintings, 1500–1900," May–October 1940, no. 117 (lent by the Jules S. Bache Collection).

New York. Parke-Bernet. "French and English Art Treasures of the XVIII Century," December 20–30, 1942, no. 16 (lent by Jules S. Bache).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bache Collection," June 16–September 30, 1943, no. 49.

Philadelphia Museum of Art. "Diamond Jubilee Exhibition: Masterpieces of Painting," November 4, 1950–February 11, 1951, no. 48.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 129.

London. Royal Academy of Arts. "France in the Eighteenth Century," Winter 1968, no. 242.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat. (p. 71).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, no. 308.

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fragonard," February 2–May 8, 1988, no. 148A.

Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 29.

Milan. Palazzo Reale. "Il gran teatro del mondo: l'anima e il volto del Settecento," November 13, 2003–April 12, 2004, no. II.67.

Roger Portalis. Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris, 1889, vol. 2, p. 272, as "Le Billet doux", in the Feuillet de Conches collection, and shown in the Alsaciens-Lorrains exhibition in 1874; cites the dimensions as 79 x 69 cm.

A. Alexandre. "La collection E. Cronier." Les arts no. 47 (November 1905), pp. 6–7, ill.

André Gide. Journal entry. December 1905 [in Gide, André, "Journal: avec un index des noms et des oeuvres cités," Paris, Gallimard, 1948–54, vol. 1, p. 186; see Ref. Sutton 1968], finds it delightful but considers Fragonard's reputation exaggerated.

Henry Pannier in Pierre de Nolhac. "Catalogue des oeuvres peintes de Jean-Honoré Fragonard qui ont passé en vente publique depuis 1770 jusqu'en 1905." J.-H. Fragonard, 1732–1806. Paris, 1906, p. 146, ill. opp. p. 148, as purchased at the 1905 Cronier sale for Fr 420,000 by Kraemer and Wildenstein.

L. de Fourcaud. "Honoré Fragonard, VII: Chronologie de l'oeuvre de Frago." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 21 (January–June 1907), p. 294.

Armand Dayot, and Léandre Vaillat. L'oeuvre de J.-B.-S. Chardin et de J.-H. Fragonard. Paris, [1908], p. XII, no. 87 bis, ill. after pl. 88, as engraved by Jacquet in 1907 and sold in 1905 for Fr 625,000.

Georges Grappe. H. Fragonard: Peintre de l'amour au XVIIIe siècle. Paris, 1913, vol. 1, ill. opp. p. 44.

"French, English, and American Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 15 (September 1920), p. 203, ill.

Louis Réau. L'art français aux États-Unis. Paris, 1926, p. 142.

Édouard Brandus. "La collection des tableaux anciens de M. Jules S. Bache, à New-York." La Renaissance 11 (May 1928), pp. 186, 188, 195, ill., states that Feuillet de Conches "hardly dared confess to his wife that he had been guilty of paying four hundred francs".

A Catalogue of Paintings in the Collection of Jules S. Bache. New York, 1929, unpaginated, ill.

Georges Grappe. La vie e l'oeuvre de J.-H. Fragonard. Paris, 1929, p. 19, pl. XXXI.

Walter Heil. "The Jules Bache Collection." Art News 27 (April 27, 1929), pp. 4, 11, ill. (color).

"London–New-York–Paris." Pantheon 3 (January–June 1929), pp. 244, 246, ill.

Esther Singleton. Old World Masters in New World Collections. New York, 1929, pp. 318–20, ill., notes that the sitter is said to be the daughter of Boucher, who married the painter Baudouin and later M. de Cuviller.

Georges Wildenstein in Unknown Masterpieces in Public and Private Collections. 1, London, 1930, unpaginated, no. 82, ill., as Boucher's youngest daughter, Marie Emilie; reads the inscription as " A Monsieur, Monsieur Cuvilier" and notes that she married the architect Charles Étienne Gabriel Cuvilier in 1773; dates the picture after 1771 or (most probably) 1772.

Trenchard Cox. "A Last View of the French Exhibition." Connoisseur 89 (March 1932), ill. p. 151.

Exhibition of French Art, 1200–1900. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1932, pp. 108–9, no. 215, as a young woman; reads the inscription "Monsieur Mon Cavalier".

Georges Wildenstein. "Paintings from America in the French Exhibition." The Fine Arts 18 (January 1932), pp. 23, 54, ill.

Georges Wildenstein. "L'exposition de l'art français à Londres: Le XVIIIe siècle." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 7 (1932), ill. p. 69.

Royal Academy of Arts. Commemorative Catalogue of the Exhibition of French Art, 1200–1900. London, 1933, p. 47, no. 173, pl. 71.

Hans Tietze. Meisterwerke europäischer Malerei in Amerika. Vienna, 1935, p. 343, pl. 261 [English ed., "Masterpieces of European Painting in America," New York, 1939, p. 327, pl. 261], identifies the sitter as Boucher's daughter before she married Cuviller.

A Catalogue of Paintings in the Bache Collection. under revision. New York, 1937, unpaginated, no. 50, ill.

"La collection Jules Bache a New-York." Mouseion 39–40 (1937), pp. 220–21, ill.

"Fragonard: 'Le Billet Doux'." Art News 40 (January 15–31, 1942), ill. p. 20 (color).

Regina Shoolman, and Charles E. Slatkin. The Enjoyment of Art in America. Philadelphia, 1942, pl. 494.

A Catalogue of Paintings in the Bache Collection. rev. ed. New York, 1943, unpaginated, no. 49, ill., reads the inscription as "Monsieur de Cuviller".

Walter Heil. "The Bache Paintings at the Metropolitan." Art News 42 (June–July 1943), pp. 23, 25–26, ill.

Harry B. Wehle. "The Bache Collection on Loan." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (June 1943), p. 286, ill. in color on cover.

Louis Guimbaud. Fragonard. Paris, 1947, p. 53.

Fiske Kimball, and Lionello Venturi. Great Paintings in America. New York, 1948, pp. 140–41, no. 63, ill. (color).

Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 231, no. 129, ill. (color).

Charles Sterling. "XV–XVIII Centuries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings. 1, Cambridge, Mass., 1955, pp. 157–59, ill., reads the inscription "A Monsieur mon Cavalier (or Cavallier)" and rejects the identification of the sitter as Boucher's daughter; calls the painting "a romantic subject in Fragonard's usual happy vein"; notes that the costume and coiffure accord with a date in the 1770s.

Louis Réau. Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre. Brussels, 1956, p. 160, pl. 107, as a genre scene.

Georges Wildenstein. The Paintings of Fragonard, Complete Edition. London, 1960, p. 284, no. 388, colorpl. facing p. 24, as Boucher's daughter, Marie-Emilie, and inscribed "A Monsieur Cuviller".

René Gimpel. Diary of an Art Dealer. English ed. New York, 1966, pp. 6, 87, 99, ill. opp. p. 18, claims the picture was purchased at the Cronier sale by his father and Nathan Wildenstein for Fr 500,000, and sold two years later to Bardac; that they bought it back in 1919, but that Bardac retained a 1/3 interest; states that he (Gimpel) sold it to Bache for $250,000.

Denys Sutton. France in the Eighteenth Century. Exh. cat., Royal Academy of Arts. London, 1968, p. 72, no. 242, fig. 278.

Adrian Daintrey. Adrian Daintrey on Fragonard's 'Le Billet Doux'. London, 1969, pp. 25–31, ill. (color).

Introduction by Kenneth Clark in Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 276, no. 308, ill.

Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 316 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].

Gabriele Mandel in L'opera completa di Fragonard. Milan, 1972, p. 104, no. 413, ill.

David Wakefield. Fragonard. London, 1976, pp. 54–55, ill. (color).

Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 364–65, fig. 663.

Jeffery Daniels. "Gainsborough the European." Connoisseur 206 (February 1981), p. 112, ill. (color).

Pierre Cabanne. Fragonard. Paris, 1987, pp. 103–4, ill. (color).

Jean-Pierre Cuzin. Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Vie et oeuvre, catalogue complet des peintures. Fribourg, Switzerland, 1987, pp. 186–88, 324, no. 335, ill. (color), dates it about 1778.

Dore Ashton. Fragonard in the Universe of Painting. Washington, 1988, pp. 190–91, ill., suggests it might have been a commission and probably dates to the later 1770s; comments that Fragonard's "characterization both of the little dog and its inwardly bemused mistress differentiate him from contemporary portrait painters who used either a more realistic tactic . . . or . . . a more formal pose and more finished surface".

Pierre Rosenberg. Fragonard. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1988, p. 633, no. 148A.

Colnaghi in America: A Survey to Commemorate the First Decade of Colnaghi New York. New York, 1992, pp. 22, 25.

Frederica Harlow. "Pretty as a Picture: French Frames Capture the Lavish Spirit of Rococo." Art & Antiques 17 (December 1994), p. 35, ill. (in frame).

Michael Kimmelman. "At the Met with Roy Lichtenstein: Disciple of Color and Line, Master of Irony." New York Times (March 31, 1995), p. C27, ill., Lichtenstein calls it "boudoirish" but great, adding that although "the theme . . . is dopey, the colors are beautiful".

Michael Fried. Manet's Modernism: or, The Face of Painting in the 1860s. Chicago, 1996, pp. 147, 149–50, 491 n. 142, p. 513 n. 39, ill., believes that Manet saw it at Martinet's in 1860 and that the "general mise-en-scène, paper-wrapped bouquet, and startled, outward-staring dog all anticipate aspects of 'Olympia'".