As with many of Fragonard’s most engaging figures, this painting may be a portrait or an imaginary figure. In either case, the artist takes the opportunity to exhibit his technique of applying thin, warmly toned glazes; the fluid brushstrokes that meld adjacent forms are particularly evident in the lower section, where fingers and drapery seem to blend one into the other. These technical features are further energized by the suggestion of wind that sweeps the young woman's powdered hair across her shoulder.
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According to Wildenstein, who sold the picture in 1927, this portrait came from the de la Fare family. It is said to represent Gabrielle Françoise Victoire de Riquet de Caraman, who in 1775 married Joseph Gabriel Henri de la Fare (1749–1786), marquis de la Fare Vénéjan. Described as a brigadier in the king’s armies, he was also a poet, and descended from a distinguished and ancient family from Languedoc in the south of France. The picture is thinly painted with liquid strokes in a range of soft golden and rosy hues. It is close, in style and in the use of washes of color, to Allegory of Vigilance and may date to the 1770s, several years after the sitter’s marriage, if indeed it is she.
Katharine Baetjer 2016
?de la Fare family; [Wildenstein, Paris and New York, until 1927; sold to Mrs. Haggin]; Mrs. James B. Haggin, New York (1927–d. 1965)
New York. World's Fair. "Masterpieces of Art: European & American Paintings, 1500–1900," May–October 1940, no. 202 (lent by Mrs. J. B. Haggin, New York).
New York. Parke-Bernet. "French and English Art Treasures of the XVIII Century," December 20–30, 1942, no. 18 (lent by Mrs. James B. Haggin).
St. Petersburg, Fla. Museum of Fine Arts. "Fragonard & His Friends: Changing Ideals in Eighteenth Century Art," November 20, 1982–February 6, 1983, no. 14.
Esther Singleton. Old World Masters in New World Collections. New York, 1929, p. 320, as "La Marquise de la Fare".
Georges Wildenstein. The Paintings of Fragonard, Complete Edition. London, 1960, pp. 287–88, no. 409, fig. 171, as "Portrait said to be Madame de la Fare . . . married in 1775 to Joseph-Gabriel-Henri, comte de la Fare"; dates it 1773–76.
Gabriele Mandel inL'opera completa di Fragonard. Milan, 1972, p. 105, no. 434, ill., as "La signora de la Fare [?]".
Pierre Cabanne. Fragonard. Paris, 1987, p. 106, remarks that if this portrait is Madame de la Fare, it must date after 1775.
Jean-Pierre Cuzin. Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Vie et oeuvre, catalogue complet des peintures. Fribourg, Switzerland, 1987, pp. 310–11, no. 265, ill., dates it about 1772–73?.
Pierre Rosenberg. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard. Paris, 1989, p. 98, no. 248, ill., as generally dated about 1770–72.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 381, ill.
Carole Blumenfeld in Yuriko Jackall. Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2017, pp. 108, 111 n. 31.
Jean-Pierre Cuzin in Yuriko Jackall. Fragonard: The Fantasy Figures. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2017, p. 116.
Katharine Baetjer. French Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Early Eighteenth Century through the Revolution. New York, 2019, p. 264, no. 82, ill. (color).
Yuriko Jackall. "‘The Swing’ by Jean Honoré Fragonard: New Hypotheses." Burlington Magazine 166 (May 2024), p. 454, fig. 17 (color detail).
Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
1763–64
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