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The Sultan

1774
Not on view
Despite its traditional title, this sheet represents not a sultan but a model dressed in Turkish attire. Posing and drawing figures in exotic costume was a long-standing tradition at the Académie de France in Rome where Fragonard had studied—a practice connected both to masquerades and to the training of young history painters. However, this sheet dates to 1774, when Fragonard visited Rome a second time, this time in the company of his patron, Pierre Jacques Onésyme Bergeret de Grancourt. As with many of his brown wash drawings of the 1770s, the wash here is intentionally diluted, its transparency leaving visible the freely executed black chalk underdrawing.

A modern copy of this drawing, once considered to be the original, is also in the museum's collection (1972.118.213).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Sultan
  • Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
  • Date: 1774
  • Medium: Brush and brown wash (possibly bistre) over black chalk underdrawing
  • Dimensions: 14 1/4 × 11 1/4 in. (36.2 × 28.6 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Bequest of Catherine G. Curran, 2008
  • Object Number: 2008.437
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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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