The abandoned corner
Sanguine, lily watermark in a double circle (restorations with additions of white gouache to hide stains)
37,5x55,5 inch
Origin :
Anonymous sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, April 11, 1921, lot 31 (as French School, XNUMXth century).
Fragonard arrived in Rome in December 1756. Very quickly, alongside Hubert Robert (1733-1808), he drew the Roman countryside in red chalk. The drawings of the two artists until 1760, date of the famous series of views of Tivoli by Fragonard today in Besançon, are very similar. It is sometimes, as is the case with this sheet, difficult to decide in favor of one or the other, especially since some other artists, such as Jean-François Amand (1730-1769) or Friedrich Reclam (1734-1774), about whom much remains to be learned, produced works in a similar style.
However, the present sheet presents some characteristics which already announce Fragonard's later landscapes. The way of leaving certain passages in reserve, such as the gate in front of the house or the pieces of wood placed on the grass on the right, the vibrating effect of the leaves, the change of rhythm in the application of sanguine giving the landscape a dynamic and alive
are all elements that plead in favor of an attribution to Fragonard.
This large and impressive sheet has unfortunately been retouched, in certain places (in particular on the top and on the left), with white gouache, no doubt to hide earlier stains.
We thank Eunice Williams for confirming the attribution to Fragonard based on a digital photograph. She compares, in particular, the present sheet to La maisonnette, a drawing of dimensions comparable to red chalk bearing a Fragonard signature and the date 1759 (A. Ananoff, L'oeuvre dessin de Fragonard, Paris, 1961, I, no. 377 , Fig. 131; Paris sale, Beaussant-Lefèvre, Hôtel Drouot, June 10, 2009, lot 57).
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