Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Biography:
The well-known painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born on April 5, 1732 in Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes. This man began his artistic training when his father, a tailor specialized in making gloves, sent him to Paris where he finally encouraged himself to demonstrate such talent and inclination towards art. So much so that he has been brought before François Boucher, who recognizes his gifts who decides not to waste time and sends him to Chardin’s workshop. There Fragonard studied for six months under the tutelage of the great luminist until he returned to Boucher’s workshop, where he learned to acquire the style of his teacher in such a way that the teacher entrusted him with making replicas of his paintings. Although he still would not have entered any Academy, Fragonard wins the Prix de Rome in 1752, and it is this that allows him to attend Rome subsidized by the Royal Academy of Sculpture and Painting of France. It was with his painting “Jeroboam sacrificing to idols”, for which he had to study for three years in the workshop of Charles-André van Loo.
Later, in 1756 he returned to Italy in the company of Hubert Robert, and it was during his stay in Rome that he admired the romantic gardens, with their fountains, temples and terraces, where he conceived the settings that he would later capture in his works. Then, in 1765 his work “Corsus and Callirhoe” ensures his admission to the Academy, since the work has been praised by Diderot and has been acquired by the king, who had it reproduced. It is at this moment where its stages separate; Up to this point Fragonard had hesitated between religious, classical and other themes in his works, but at this time the demand for patterns by King Louis XV to represent scenes of love and pleasure at court, directs the theme of the works of Fragonard towards works with scenes of love and voluptuousness with which the artist’s name has been associated.
He has continued to reproduce and create until the French Revolution, which has meant the end of the old regime, and Fragonard, close to its top representatives, left Paris in 1793 and took refuge in the house of his friend Maubert in Grasse. It has been for more than half a century that Fragobard has been completely ignored, until his rediscovery emerged, which was his confirmation among the masters of painting. Among his career there are four notable works in the Wallace collection: “The source of love”, “The governess”, “A woman engraving her name on a tree” and “The blond child”.
Later, later, although he had the help of his peers, he never adapted to the new style and died in poverty on August 22, 1806 in Paris.