Jean Honoré Fragonard | A Fisherman Pulling a Net

Additional Images (4)

A Fisherman Pulling a Net

Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)

Date: 1774

Medium: Red chalk

Dimensions: sheet: 19 3/4 x 14 3/4 in. (50.1 x 37.5 cm)

Classification: Drawings

Credit Line: Purchase, Walter and Leonore Annenberg and The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 2006

Accession Number: 2006.353.1

On view in Gallery 690

Description Object Information Related Objects Online Resources Video Audio

In 18th century France, many aspiring young artists were given the opportunity to study in Italy, but Fragonard had the rare privilege of returning at the height of his powers as part of a year-long voyage underwritten by collector and financier Pierre-Jacques Onésyme Bergeret de Grancourt. In the Spring of 1774, at the southernmost point of their tour, the traveling party spent two months installed at lodgings at the edge of the bay of Naples. In between their sightseeing jaunts and social engagements, Fragonard clearly relished making drawings of local types, including fishermen and their wives.
Drawn on an unusually large scale, this pair of studies (see also 2006.353.2) embodies the accomplishment and confidence of Fragonard’s mature manner. Red chalk is used not only to delineate form, but to lay in areas of light and shadow through broad hatching and modulation of pressure. Despite their bare feet and somewhat ragged attire, the fishermen cut dashing figures with their broad-brimmed hats, billowy jackets, and looped-over sashes. The low angle of the sunlight and the slight weariness of their poses are both suggestive of end of the day labor.

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Inscription: in pen and brown ink at lower left, “fragonard pere fecit”
in black chalk at lower right, “fragonard”
in pen and black ink on the mount at the center of the lower margin, “piscator”

Marking: Watermark: a twice encircled fleur-de-lys.
Provenance

Probably Previously owned by Pierre Jacques Onésyme Bergeret de Grancourt (French, Paris 1742–1807 Paris); And/Or Previously owned by Bergeret's son Pierre Jacques Bergeret (French, Paris 1742–1807 Paris); Xavier Atger (French, 1758–1833), possibly in Atger's estate sale, Paris, April 7 -12, 1834, as part of lot 3 ("Bouchardon (Edme)/ soixante-neuf dessins au crayon rouge et à la sanguine, études de têtes et figures académiques; de ce nombre plusieurs par Fragonard père."; Hippolyte Walferdin , Paris, his estate sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 12 - 16, 1880, lots 231 - 232 (purchased for 140 francs each by baron Hottinger).; Hottinger Family , Zurich by descent.; Vendor: Salamander Fine Arts
Exhibition History

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," January 8, 2007–March 25, 2007.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," July 15, 2014–September 29, 2014.
References

Baron Roger Portalis Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre. vol. 2, Paris, 1889, p. 310.

Alexandre Ananoff L'oeuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) Catalogue raisonné. Paris, 1961-1970, cat. no. 765-766, vol. II, p. 81.

Stijn Alsteens, Carmen C. Bambach, Constance C. McPhee, Nadine Orenstein, Perrin Stein "Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2006-2007." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 65, no. 2, New York, Fall 2007, p. 32, ill.

Perrin Stein "Fragonard in Naples: two rediscovered drawings." The Burlington magazine. vol. 149, May 2007, fig. no. 12, 305-08, ill.