Provenance Michel Heine, Paris (in 1888); J. Pierpont Morgan, London (by 1907–d. 1913; cat., vol. 3, 1907, no. 538H, as by Jean Honoré Fragonard); his son, J. P. Morgan, New York (1913–35; his sale, Christie's, London, June 24, 1935, no. 519, as by Jean Honoré Fragonard, to Spink); [Spink, London, from 1935]; [Alfred Joseph, London, until 1960; sold to MMA]
Exhibition History Paris. École des Beaux-Arts. "L'art français sous Louis XIV et sous Louis XV," 1888, no. 251 (as "Jeune homme portant un costume avec collerette," by Jean Honoré Fragonard).
Paris. Galerie Georges Petit. "Exposition Chardin et Fragonard," June–July 1907, nos. 227–35 (probably one of nine miniatures lent by J. Pierpont Morgan).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 44 (as by Jean Honoré Fragonard).
References Baron Roger Portalis. Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre . Paris, 1889, p. 317, ill. opp. p. 136, calls it a portrait of a child as Pierrot, by Jean Honoré Fragonard.Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures, the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan . 3, [deluxe edition]. London, 1907, p. 168, no. 538H, pl. CLXXX, no. 2, as by Jean Honoré Fragonard.L'oeuvre de J.-B.-S. Chardin et de J.-H. Fragonard . Paris, [1908], p. XXI, no. 193, ill.The Miniature in Europe in the 16th, 17th, 18, and 19th Centuries . Graz, Austria, 1964, vol. 1, p. 266, as probably by Jean Honoré Fragonard.in L'opera completa di Fragonard . Milan, 1972, p. 112, no. 576, ill., states that Michel Heine, Paris, lent it to the exhibition in 1888.European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 12–13, 90–91, no. 44, colorpl. 44 and ill. p. 90, call it "one of the group of brilliantly painted miniatures by [Jean Honoré] Fragonard".Revue de l'art no. 111 (1996), pp. 70–71, fig. 32, attributes it to Jean Honoré Fragonard's wife Marie Anne Gérard.Letter . January 4, 1996, states that it "may be favorably compared, in terms of subject matter and technique," with two miniatures attributed to Jean Honoré Fragonard, sold at Sotheby's, Geneva, May 7, 1982, no. 314.Letter to Katharine Baetjer . May 22, 1997, finds Rosenberg's attribution [see Ref. 1996] of this and other miniatures to Madame Fragonard to be "completely convincing".
Add to My Met Gallery
Print
List View
Enlarge
Zoom