Description
Fragonard used gardens as the setting for love and courtship in some of his most important works. One such scene, this drawing depicts a woman pleading for help from a statue of Eros, the god of love. He wears a blindfold, suggesting an uncertain outcome for the woman, as does a Cupid who indifferently leans on an orb nearby. Like other artists in 18th-century France, Fragonard was deeply influenced by historic imagery of the Garden of Love—a pastoral and idyllic contained landscape. He revisited the specific image seen here multiple times, in two oil paintings (Musée du Louvre and private collection, New York) and another drawing (Princeton University Art Museum).
Provenance
François Renaud [active late 18th-early 19th century; Lugt 1042], Paris (?-by 1781); Possibly M. Sireul (?-by 1781); (Chez M. Boileau, Paris, Tableaux et dessins précieux qui composent le cabinet de M. de Sireul, December 3, 1781, no. 241, possibly sold to François-Martial Marcille) (1781); Possibly François-Martial Marcille [1790-1856], Paris (?-1857); (Paris, M. Marcille sale, March 4-7, 1857, under no. 416, sold to Pierre Désiré Eugène Franc Lamy) (1857); Pierre Désiré Eugène Franc Lamy [1855-1919; Lugt 949b], Paris (1857-about 1922); (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, sold to Grace Rainey Rogers) (about 1922); Grace Rainey Rogers [1867-1943], New York, NY (1922-1943); (Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Notable...Paintings and Drawings...Property of the Estate of the Late Grace Rainey Rogers, November 18-20, 1943, no. 46, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (1943); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1943-)
Accession Number
1943.657
Medium
Brush and brown wash with graphite squaring lines and underdrawing on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Sheet: 33.5 x 41.6 cm (13 3/16 x 16 3/8 in.); Secondary Support: 37.6 x 47.8 cm (14 13/16 x 18 13/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Credit Line
Grace Rainey Rogers Fund
Tags
Drawing Neoclassical & Romantic (1751–1850) Graphite & Pencil Paper French
Background & Context
Background Story
Jean-Honore Fragonard (1732-1806) was a French painter known for the brilliantly executed, playful paintings of love and pleasure that make him one of the most important painters of the French Rococo. Invocation to Love from c. 1781 depicts an invocation to love in the brilliantly executed, playful manner that distinguishes Fragonard's best work from the more serious painting of his contemporaries. The c. 1781 date places this late in Fragonard's career, after the Rococo style had been challenged by Neoclassicism, and the invocation to love subject shows his ability to combine Rococo playfulness with the brilliant technique that is his most distinctive contribution.
Cultural Impact
Invocation to Love is important in the history of French painting because it demonstrates the brilliantly executed, playful manner that Fragonard brought to love subjects as one of the most important painters of the French Rococo. Fragonard's brilliantly executed, playful paintings—combining the Rococo love of pleasure with the brilliant technique that is his most distinctive contribution—represent one of the most accomplished traditions in French painting, and the c. 1781 painting shows this tradition in its late phase, after the Rococo had been challenged by Neoclassicism.
Why It Matters
Invocation to Love is Fragonard's late Rococo: an invocation to love rendered in the brilliantly executed, playful manner of one of the most important painters of the French Rococo. The c. 1781 painting shows Fragonard's late phase—after the Rococo had been challenged by Neoclassicism—still combining Rococo playfulness with brilliant technique.
