Fanfan

Jean Honoré Fragonard French

Not on view

Fragonard excelled at portraying small children in images that capture their innocence and playfulness. Here, a charmingly disheveled child with blond curls rushes forward clutching his dolls while two tiny dogs try to pull one from his grasp. Using a wide range of marks, from hatching to wiggles to dots, Fragonard contrasts the sunlit paleness of the boy with a shadowy background. Although the model has not survived, other prints made in 1778 by the artist suggest that this etching is based on a brown wash drawing, in reverse direction and probably of larger dimensions than the print. His pupil, and sister-in-law, Marguerite Gérard also made an etching after the same model.

Fanfan, Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris), Etching, third state of three

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