Jean-Honoré Fragonard

JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD (France, 1732-1806)
"The departure of Jacob and his family from the house of Laban".
Black stone, stylus, maker's watermark.
Unpublished drawing.
Belongs to a series of 3 sheets of the same subject: 1- Kupferstichkabinett of Berlin (24.7 x 37.4 cm; A. Ananoff, L'œuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). Catalog raisonné, Paris, 1961-1970, vol. III, no. 1742, vol. IV, fig. 744; cat. expo. Fragonard. Poesie & Leidenschaft, Karlsruhe, 2013-2014, no. 17), 2-Musée Fragonard de Grasse (24.3 x 37.6 cm; A. Ananoff, op. cit. vol. II, no. 1029, vol. IV, fig. 724; cat. expo. Grasse, Musée Fragonard, Trois peintres grassois. Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Marguerite Gérard, Jean-Baptiste Mallet, 2011, p. 54).
Measurements: 25.7 x 36.6 cm.

This valuable unpublished drawing by Fragonard is a fascinating example of a master on the cusp of his evolution. It retains the spirit of Rococo (the movement, the energy, the virtuosic and atmospheric technique), but applies it to a subject and with a dramatic intensity that go beyond classical Rococo.

This drawing belongs to a series of three sheets that Fragonard dedicated to the same subject, all with similar technique and dimensions. The other two versions are preserved in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin and in the Fragonard Museum in Grasse. The three drawings depict "The departure of Jacob and his family from the house of Laban," a theme taken from Genesis (31). Jacob, son of Isaac and Rebekah, spent twenty years at his uncle Laban's house in Haran (southeast of present-day Turkey) and married his uncle's two daughters. When he learns that Laban's sons have conspired against him, God appears to him and instructs him to return to the land of his fathers. Jacob puts his wives and children on camels and takes his flock with him. Later (32), angels appear to him; this is the moment depicted in the three drawings.

According to the expert Marie-Anne Dupuy, the drawing we bid for would be the third and last version of the series. Fragonard refines the composition at each step: in the Berlin version, he shows Jacob with his arms raised to heaven; in the Grasse version Jacob is in a similar pose, but the angels are visible in the sky; in the version we show, Jacob, situated in the same place (on the right), no longer looks to heaven, but seems to indicate the way to his troop, suggesting that the appearance of the angels has just concluded. Although the right side of this drawing is very similar to Grasse's, Fragonard profoundly transformed the center and the right side. The most notable change is the camel in the center, which here appears lying down with other animals, while in the other two versions it is on its way.

Although the Grasse drawing has sometimes been dated to a relatively early stage in the artist's career, it appears that all three sheets date from after the second trip to Italy in 1774, certainly around 1780. Because of the use of marked black stone, the extensive use of blurring, and the dense but interrupted strokes, they may resemble other sheets that date with certainty from this period, such as the illustrations inspired by Les Veillées du château, a work by Madame de Genlis published in 1784 (see, for example, Scène familiale, cat. expo. Fragonard, Les plaisirs d'un siècle, Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, 2007-2008, no. 51).

In this drawing, Fragonard infuses Rococo language with a new gravity and a deeper, more emotional dynamism, demonstrating his incredible versatility until the end of his career. The composition is a maelstrom of activity. Figures, animals and foliage swirl in a chaotic but elegant mass. Energy flows from the left (the advancing troop) to the right (Jacob, who directs it).

Fragonard's pictorial Rococo is famous for its visible, swift and vibrant brushstroke. This drawing is the graphic equivalent. The "dense but broken-like strokes" and the "extensive use of blurring" do not seek to create a crisp, academic outline. They seek to capture atmosphere, movement and the play of light and shadow. It is a "painterly" drawing, where stain and effect matter more than pure line.

Although it is a Genesis landscape, the treatment of the trees in the background is lush and almost overwhelming. The foliage is a living, enveloping force that merges with the figures, a typical trait of the Rococo sensibility toward nature as a sensual, living setting.

One of the most prolific artists active in the decades of the Ancien Régime, prior to the French Revolution, Fragonard was the author of more than 550 paintings (plus drawings and etchings), only five of which are dated. Among his most popular works are the genre paintings, which reflect an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism. For more than half a century he was completely ignored, so much so that Wilhelm Lübke, in his History of Art (1873), did not even mention his name. Later his rediscovery led to his confirmation among the masters of painting. Today his paintings are kept in the most important art galleries and museums of the world.