About the Artwork
On a spring day, a young gardener leans forward to launch a bird into flight, his movements framed by the graceful arc of a lush tree overhead. One of a set of four paintings all owned by the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Gardener is an early work by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, who would go on to become one of the most technically daring painters of the French eighteenth century. Glimpses of Fragonard’s assured technique can already be seen here in the confident brushwork and brilliant chromatic contrasts — the youth’s red jacket stands out against a clear blue sky, while his white trousers are subtly highlighted by touches of lavender. The series evokes the progression of the seasons, from the cultivation of a garden in springtime to summer harvest to autumn’s impending chill. The paintings were originally intended to adorn the walls of an ornate interior, and their decorative function is emphasized by their curvilinear gilded frames.
The Gardener
between 1754 and 1755
Jean Honoré Fragonard
1732-1806
French
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 58 3/4 × 36 3/4 inches (149.2 × 93.3 cm) Framed: 64 5/8 × 43 × 3 3/4 inches (164.1 × 109.2 × 9.5 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Fund
71.393
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
possibly 18th century, (Hôtel de Mortemart-Rochechouart, Paris, France);possibly private collection (northern France);
Baron Roger Portalis (Paris, France);
by 1907, Eugen Kraemer [sic] (Paris, France);
May 5-6, 1913, Eugène Kraemer [sic] sale (Paris, France) lot 33;
by 1914, (Wildenstein with E. Gimpel, New York, New York, USA);
Judge Elbert H. Gary [d. 1927] (New York, New York, USA);
(Duveen Brothers, New York, New York, USA);
acquired by Anna Thomson Dodge (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, USA);
June 25, 1971, sold by (Christie's, London, England) lot 9;
1971-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Portalis, Baron R. Scènes de la vie champêtre. Paris, 1902, p. 23.
Foster, J.J., ed. French Art from Watteau to Prud'hon. London, 1905-07, vol. 3, p. 46.
Chardin-Fragonard. Exh. cat., Galerie Georges Petit. Paris, 1907, nos. 113-116.
Dayot, A. and L. Vaillat. L'oeuvre de J.-B.-S. Chardin et de J.-H. Fragonard. Paris, 1907, pp. 134-37, no. 136.
Frantz, H. "The Chardin-Fragonard Exhibition." The International Studio 33 (1907-1908): 30 (ill.), pp. 25-35.
Fragonard. Exh. cat., E. Gimpel and Wildenstein and Co. New York, 1914, no. 23.
Apollinaire, G. Fragonard and the United States. Paris, 1914, pp. 14-21, p. 10 (ill.).
Mauclair, C. Un Tableau de Fragonard. Paris, p. 13.
The Gary Fragonards." The American Art News 6 (December 8, 1917): p. 3.
Duveen, J. A Catalogue of Works of Art in the Collection of Anna Thomson Dodge, vol. 1. Detroit, 1939, (ill.).
Réau, L. Fragonard, sa vie et son ouevre. Brussels, 1956, p. 172.
Wildenstein, G. The Paintings of Fragonard. London, 1960, p. 201, no. 38, p. 200 (ill.) (fig. 27).
La Coste-Messelière, M.G. de. "Anatomie d'une vente publique." L'Oeil (May 1971): pp. 27, 30 (fig. 3).
"La chronique des arts." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 79 (January 1972): suppl. pp. 94 (fig. 336).
Bulletin of the DIA: Annual Report 51, no. 1 (1972): p. 14.
Wildenstein, D., and G. Mandel. L'opera completa di Fragonard. Milan, 1972, no. 37.
"Recent Accessions of American and Canadian Museums, October-December 1971." The Art Quarterly 35, no. 2 (1972): p. 200 (ill.) bottom no. 3. [misidentified as The Reaper.]
Davidson, R. "Museum Accessions." Antiques Magazine (March 1973): p. 441.
K.R. "Shorter Notices: Recent Museum Acquisitions." The Burlington Magazine 115, no. 843 (June 1973): p. 393 (ill.) p. 400 (fig. 74).
Paris – New York: A Continuing Romance. Exh. cat., Wildenstein and Co. New York 1977, p. 48, no. 36 (fig. 44).
Darr, A.P. European Decorative Arts from Royal Collections. Exh. cat., University Liggett School. Grosse Pointe, 1981, p. 22 (ill.), (fig. 007).
Sutton, D. "Selected Prefaces: IX. Jean-Honoré Fragonard: The World as Illusion." Apollo 125, new series 300 (February 1987): p. 104, pp. 102-113.
Fragonard. Exh. cat., Grand Palais and Metropolitan Museum of Art. Paris and New York, 1987, pp. 40-45, cat. no. 2 (ill.).
Cuzin, J.-P. Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Life and Work. New York, 1988, no. 13, pp. 28-30, 262 (ill.).
Rosenberg, P. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard. Paris, 1989, no. 32.
Masterpieces from The Detroit Institute of Arts. Bunkamura Museum of Art, Municipal Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art. Tokyo, Kyoto, and Ibaraki, 1989, pp. 75, 213-214, cat. 43 (ill.).
Sheriff, Mary D. Fragonard: Art and Eroticism. Chicago, 1990, pp. 95-113, 116 (fig. 18).
Dell, T. et al. The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth-Century French and English Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York and Detroit, 1996, no. 64, pp. 202-203, (ill.) p. 207.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Jean Honoré Fragonard, The Gardener, between 1754 and 1755, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Horace E. Dodge Memorial Fund, 71.393.
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