Description
In the course of his long career, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings. In this particular painting, the seventeenth-century costume, the brown palette, and his technique suggest that Fragonard is reflecting upon the work of Peter Paul Rubens and Rembrandt rather than his teacher François Boucher. While there is considerable evidence that the sitter is Alexander Evariste Fragonard, the artist's son, this identity has never been confirmed.
Provenance
Hippolyte Walferdin [1795-1880], Paris, France (By 1860-1880); (Sale: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France, Walferdin sale, April 12-14, 1880, no. 4) (April 12-14, 1880); Comte Cahen d’Anvers, probably Edouard [1832-1894] (1880-); Nicolas Ambatielos [1885-1956], London, England; (Wildenstein & Co., New York, NY) (1905-1920); Grace Rainey Rogers [1867-1943], New York, NY, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art (-1942); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio (1942-)
Accession Number
1942.49
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
Framed: 36 x 27 x 3.5 cm (14 3/16 x 10 5/8 x 1 3/8 in.); Unframed: 20.8 x 16 cm (8 3/16 x 6 5/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Gift of Grace Rainey Rogers in memory of her father, William J. Rainey
Tags
Color: Orange Color: Brown
Background & Context
Background Story
Jean-Honoré Fragonard's "A Boy in a Red-lined Cloak" (1780s) is an oil on wood painting that captures the Rococo spirit of playful theatricality and sensual charm. Fragonard (1732–1806) was the last great painter of the French Rococo, a student of Boucher and a favorite of the court of Louis XVI. His paintings are known for their speed, lightness, and erotic charge—qualities that made him the perfect painter of the ancien régime's final years. This portrait of a young boy wearing a cloak dramatically lined with red shows Fragonard's brilliant technique: the paint is applied in rapid, confident strokes, with the red lining providing a bold accent against more subdued browns and grays. The boy's expression is mischievous, engaging the viewer with a knowing look that seems to anticipate the Revolution that would sweep away the world Fragonard depicted. The painting on wood panel allows for a smooth, enamel-like finish that enhances the richness of the colors. This work dates from Fragonard's later period, when he had turned away from the large mythological and erotic scenes of his prime toward more intimate portraits and genre scenes, perhaps responding to the changing tastes of a society on the brink of transformation.
Cultural Impact
Fragonard's late portraits capture the twilight of the Rococo era and the end of the ancien régime, their playful surfaces masking the tensions of a society about to be overturned by revolution.
Why It Matters
"A Boy in a Red-lined Cloak" displays Fragonard's virtuosic brushwork at its most captivating—a few strokes of the brush create the sheen of fabric, the warmth of skin, and the spark of a personality, all in a painting small enough to hold in two hands.
