Two Cypresses in an Italian Garden
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.The Italian gardens that the young Fragonard studied in chalk left an indelible impression on him. Years later the artist made this view, centered on a monumental pair of cypresses, possibly from memory. Few of his later landscapes represent identifiable locations; instead they are dreamlike evocations of leisure in lush settings. Here, Fragonard experimented by adding details in sanguine brûlée, a brownish-red shade of chalk, which adds a naturalistic note of dryness and decay to the otherwise verdant foliage.
Artwork Details
- Title: Two Cypresses in an Italian Garden
- Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1774
- Medium: Two hues of red chalk with later framing lines in pen and brown ink
- Dimensions: 10 5/8 × 12 13/16 in. (27 × 32.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Private collection
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints