The Collection
The American Wing Ancient Near Eastern Art Arms and Armor The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing Asian Art The Cloisters The Costume Institute Drawings and Prints Egyptian Art European Paintings European Sculpture and Decorative Arts Greek and Roman Art Islamic Art Robert Lehman Collection The Libraries Medieval Art Musical Instruments Photographs Antonio Ratti Textile Center Modern and Contemporary Art

Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.

View of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli

Jean Honoré Fragonard French

ca. 1760-65

Not on view

During the summer of 1760, the abbé de Saint-Non and Fragonard stayed at Villa d’Este in Tivoli. While there, Fragonard made two highly finished red chalk drawings of the nearby Temple of Vesta, a Roman structure dating to the first century b.c. This sheet is a counterproof of one of those drawings, which Fragonard enhanced by adding pen and ink as well as two colors of wash—probably sometime after he returned to Paris. Through this combination of media, the artist depicts the ancient temple’s crumbling foundation, supported by a network of vines and weeds, as a richly textured tapestry of red, brown, and gray.

View of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris), Red chalk counterproof, reworked by the artist in brown ink, brown and gray wash — This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.

Title: View of the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli

Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)

Date: ca. 1760-65

Medium: Red chalk counterproof, reworked by the artist in brown ink, brown and gray wash

Dimensions: 13 5/16 × 18 3/16 in. (33.8 × 46.2 cm)

Classification: Drawings

Credit Line: Private collection

How Chalk Drawings are Made

How Chalk Drawings are Made

An illustrated explainer.

How Ink Drawings are Made

How Ink Drawings are Made

An illustrated explainer.

The Met

Drawings and Prints at The Met

The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.