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The Stolen Kiss

ca. 1760
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 631

Fragonard is best known for energetic, broadly brushed paint surfaces, but the high degree of finish and the miraculous, incandescent glow of this painting demonstrate his technical range. The hard paint surface emulates seventeenth-century Dutch painting, but his teacher, François Boucher, inspired the subject of a forcibly pursued kiss, evidently won in a card game. Executed during Fragonard’s first trip to Italy, this was among his first private commissions, probably from the bailli de Bréteuil, Malta’s ambassador to the Holy See.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Stolen Kiss
  • Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1760
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: 19 x 25 in. (48.3 x 63.5 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Jessie Woolworth Donahue, 1956
  • Object Number: 56.100.1
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Danse de satyres, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Etching, first state
Danse de satyres
Jean Honoré Fragonard
n.d.
The Vision of Saint Jerome, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Etching, first state
The Vision of Saint Jerome
Jean Honoré Fragonard
Johann Liss
1763–64
Bacchante et jeune satyre, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Etching
Bacchante et jeune satyre
Jean Honoré Fragonard
n.d.
Bacchanale - Satyr and Nymph with Infant and Infant Satyr, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Etching, second state
Bacchanale - Satyr and Nymph with Infant and Infant Satyr
Jean Honoré Fragonard
n.d.
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Black chalk counterproof, re-worked in black chalk
The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine
Jean Honoré Fragonard
Mattia Preti (Il Cavalier Calabrese)
ca. 1761

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