Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Camille Groult (bears inscription in pen on the backing: Ancienne collects ion Groult);
sale, Paris, Hotel Drouot, 1 December 1994, lot 1

A. Ananoff, L' Oeuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Paris 1970, vol. IV, p. 207, no. 2610a;
P. Rosenberg and B. Brejon de Lavergnée, Panopticon Italiano, Rome 1986, p. 383, under no. 202

Laid down on the18th century mount, partly cut down. Generally very fresh and in good condition, very slight foxing to the bottom section of the drawing. Sold in a modern gilded frame.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any stat.mes nt made by Replica Shoes 's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This is a fine counterproof, extensively reworked by Fragonard himself, of a drawing which he made after a painting by Sebastiano Ricci.  The original drawing from which this counterproof was taken is in the Norton Simon Foundation, Los Angeles.¹  These copies after old masters are part of an extraordinary group of three hundred drawings which Fragonard executed for the Abbé de Saint-Non while travelling through Italy.  Fragonard spent five years in Italy from 1756 to 1761, initially as a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome.  In 1760 he met the Abbé de Saint-Non who commissioned him to record the most important works of art encountered on his Italian travels.  On his return to Paris Saint-Non made a series of aquatints after many of Fragonard's drawings, including the present composition.²  Although the project was never realized, the aquatints were intended to illustrate a publication on his travels. The present drawing still retains the Abbé de Saint-Non's original mount.

Most of Fragonard's drawings from this project exist as counterproofs, and in many cases, as here, are extensively reworked by the artist himself.  The painting by Ricci which is the subject of the present sheet was one of two flanking the altar of the Crucifixion, in the Church of the Corpus Domini, Venice, which was demolished at the begining of the 19th century. They represented The clearing of the table after the Last Supper (left) and The Communion of the Apostles (right). They were sold in the second half of the 19th century and are now lost.³

We are grateful to Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey for providing some of the above information on this work, which she has seen in the original.

1.  Rosenberg and Brejon de Lavergnée, op. cit., p. 383, no. 202, reproduced

2.  J. Daniels, Sebastiano Ricci, Bath 1976, p. 145, under no. 506, reproduced fig. 349

3.  A. Scarpa, Sebastiano Ricci, Mariano Comense 2006, p. 358