Fragonard's Progress of Love

Jean-Honore Fragonard's (1732-1806) Progress of Love, a series of fourteen paintings, is brought to life by an essay by Xavier F. Salomon and a contribution by Alan Hollinghurst. The first four paintings were commissioned in 1771 for the comtesse du Barry, but were rejected by Du Barry and returned to the artist. In 1790, Fragonard moved the canvases to his cousin's house, the Villa Maubert, in Grasse, and painted ten additional panels. The works were purchased in 1915 by Henry Clay Frick and installed at his new mansion in New York in the present-day Fragonard Room in The Frick Collection.

Format: Hardback
Length: 112 pages
Publication date: 01 February 2022
Publisher: D Giles Ltd

Jean-Honore Fragonard's (1732-1806) Progress of Love, a series of fourteen paintings considered by many to be the artist's masterpiece, is brought to life in an essay by Xavier F. Salomon, paired with a contribution by award-winning novelist Alan Hollinghurst. The first four paintings were commissioned in 1771 for the Comtesse du Barry, to be installed in 1772 in Louveciennes, the pavilion outside Paris built for her by her lover, Louis XV. By 1773, the canvases, The Pursuit, The Meeting, The Lover Crowned, and Love Letters, had been rejected by Du Barry and returned to the artist. In 1790, Fragonard moved the canvases to his cousin's house, the Villa Maubert, in Grasse, and over the course of the year, painted ten additional panels: two large-scale works, Love Triumphant and Reverie; four narrow strips depicting hollyhocks; and four overdoors of putti. Sold by the Maubert estate to the dealer Agnew's in 1898, the works were purchased in February 1915 by the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. By May 1916, the panels were installed at Frick's new mansion in New York in the present-day Fragonard Room in The Frick Collection.

Jean-Honore Fragonard's (1732-1806) Progress of Love, a series of fourteen paintings considered by many to be the artist's masterpiece, is brought to life in an essay by Xavier F. Salomon, paired with a contribution by award-winning novelist Alan Hollinghurst. The first four paintings were commissioned in 1771 for the Comtesse du Barry, to be installed in 1772 in Louveciennes, the pavilion outside Paris built for her by her lover, Louis XV. By 1773, the canvases, The Pursuit, The Meeting, The Lover Crowned, and Love Letters, had been rejected by Du Barry and returned to the artist. In 1790, Fragonard moved the canvases to his cousin's house, the Villa Maubert, in Grasse, and over the course of the year, painted ten additional panels: two large-scale works, Love Triumphant and Reverie; four narrow strips depicting hollyhocks; and four overdoors of putti. Sold by the Maubert estate to the dealer Agnew's in 1898, the works were purchased in February 1915 by the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. By May 1916, the panels were installed at Frick's new mansion in New York in the present-day Fragonard Room in The Frick Collection.

Weight: 608g
Dimension: 199 x 241 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781911282983