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The Island of Love

ca. 1770-80
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Fragonard used gouache, an opaque form of watercolor, on only a few occasions. This view of a pleasure garden, despite its small scale, is a finished work meant to stand on its own—a silvery version of a larger painting (today in the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon). Like many of Fragonard’s late landscapes, it is a product of the artist’s imagination that presents the natural world as a place of mystery, thrill, and pleasure.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Island of Love
  • Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1770-80
  • Medium: Black chalk and gouache
  • Dimensions: 11 × 14 1/4 in. (27.9 × 36.2 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Private collection
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints