Blindman's Buff
c. 1775/1780
Artist, French, 1732 - 1806


West Building Main Floor, Gallery 55
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 216.2 x 197.8 cm (85 1/8 x 77 7/8 in.)
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Accession
1961.9.16
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Casimir Perrin, marquis de Cypierre [1783-1844], Paris; (his estate sale, at his residence by Thoré, Paris, 10 March 1845 and days following, no. 52 or 53).[1] possibly marquise de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Paris;[2] Camille Groult [1837-1908], Paris, possibly from 1889, to1908.[3] (Wildenstein & Co., New York); sold February 1954 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[4] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] This is the first confirmed record of the painting. For discussion of possible earlier provenance now rejected by scholars, see Richard Rand's entry on this painting and its pendant, The Swing (NGA 1961.9.17), in Philip Conisbee, et al., French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century, The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue, Washington, 2009: 199, 202 nn. 13, 14.
[2] The pair of paintings were possibly the two Fragonards sold from the Montesquiou-Fezensac collection to Henri Haro, buying for Camille Groult, prior to its 1897 sale at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 19 March 1897; see Colin Eisler, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian, Oxford, 1977: 331 n. 17.
[3] Groult's ownership was incorrectly given as "until at least 1889" in the provenance for the painting published in the NGA's 2009 catalogue (see note 1). Thanks to correspondence from Olafur Thorvaldsson (e-mail of 27 September 2019, in NGA curatorial files), Groult's ownership can be further clarified.
Groult was given as the owner of the paintings in publications of 1889 (Portalis; who actually places only NGA 1961.9.16 in Groult's collection, and confuses the provenances of three paintings in his entry), 1906 (Nolhac), 1908 (Flament; kindly sent to NGA by Mr. Thorvaldsson), and 1927 (Reau). If Groult did not acquire the paintings until 1897 (see note 2 about this possibility), the 1889 publication is in error. Since Groult died in 1908, the 1927 publication must have meant he was a former owner, although it is possible the painting was inherited by his son, Jean Groult (1868-1951). The painting was not included in the 21 March 1952 sale of the Groult collection.
[4] The bill of sale (copy in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/397) is dated February 10, 1954, and was for a total of fourteen paintings; payments by the Foundation continued to March 1957.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1961
Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1961-1962, no. 178, repro.
1987
Fragonard, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987-1988, no. 163.
1988
The Pastoral Landscape: The Legacy of Venice, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988-1989, not in cat.
2003
The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Altes Museum, Berlin, 2003-2004, not in cat. (shown only in Washington).
Bibliography
n.d.
Wentzel, H. "Jean-Honoré Fragonards Schaukel." Wallraf-Richartz-Jahrbuch 26 (1964): 214-216, repro.
1880
Goncourt, Edmond de, and Jules de Goncourt. L'art du dix-huitième siècle. 2 vols. Paris, 1880-1884: 2:334.
1889
Portalis, Roger. Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre. 2 vols. Paris, 1889: 273, incorrectly combining the provenance of three paintings in one entry.
1906
Nolhac, Pierre de. J.-H. Fragonard. Paris, 1906: 69-71, no. 151.
1908
Flament, Albert. "La Collection Groult." L'Illustration, no. 3386 (18 January 1908): 56.
1927
Reau, Louis. "Les Colin-maillard de Fragonard." Gazette des Beaux-Arts ser. 5, no. 15 (March 1927): 150-151, repro.
1956
Einstein, Lewis. "Looking at French Eighteenth Century Pictures in Washington." Gazette des Beaux-Arts. 6th ser., 47, no. 1048-1049 (May-June 1956): 242-244, repro. 238, 239, 240.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 10, repro.
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 76-78, no. 26, repro.
Réau, Louis. Fragonard: sa vie et son oeuvre. Brussels, 1956: 158.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): 47, pl. 120.
1959
Cooke, Hereward Lester. French Paintings of the 16th-18th Centuries in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Four in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 38, color repro.
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 366, repro.
Wildenstein, Georges. "L'abbé de Saint-Non artiste et mécène." Gazette des Beaux- Arts ser. 6, no. 54 (November 1959): 244.
1960
Wildenstein, Georges. The Paintings of Fragonard. New York, 1960: no. 448
1961
Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 187, repro. pl. 178, 181.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 52.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 44, repro.
1972
Mandel, Gabriele. L'Opera completa di Fragonard. Milan, 1972: no. 472, repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 132, repro.
1977
Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 328-329, figs. 295, 297.
1980
Fried, Michael. Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot. Berkeley, 1980: 139, repro.
1981
Conisbee, Philip. Painting in Eighteenth-Century France. Ithaca, 1981: 178, repro.
1982
Posner, Donald. "The Swinging Women of Watteau and Fragonard." The Art Bulletin 64, no. 1: (March 1982): 80, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 338, no. 455, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 159, repro.
1987
Cuzin, Jean-Pierre. "Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Vie et oeuvre." Fribourg, 1987. English edition New York, 1988: 202-203, 325, no. 339, repro.
Lévêque, Jean Jacques, La vie et l'oeuvre de Jean Honoré Fragonard. Paris, 1987: 42, repro.
1989
Rosenberg, Pierre. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard. Paris, 1989: 106, no. 312-313, repro.
1996
Timken Museum of Art. Timken Museum of Art: European works of art, American paintings, and Russian icons in the Putnam Foundation collection. San Diego, 1996: 154, 156, repro.
1998
Milam, Jennifer. "Fragonard and the Blindman's Game: Interpreting Representations of Blindman's Buff." Art History 21, no. 1 (March 1998): 9, 11, 13, repro.
2001
Rand, Richard. "Fragonard dans le jardin d'amour." In L'art et les normes sociales au XVIIIe siècle (Passages/Passagen 2). Edited by Thomas W. Gaehtgens, Christian Michel, Daniel Rabreau and Martin Schieder. Paris, 2001: 495, 497, fig. 1.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 252-253, no. 203, color repro.
Rosenberg, Pierre. "Fragonard, La Fête à Saint-Cloud, Louis-Pierre Marchal de Sainscy, et la Banque de France." In Place de Victoires: histoire, architecture, societé. Ed. Isabelle Dubois et. al. Paris, 2004: 255, 257, repro.
2005
Baillio, Joseph, et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York. Exh. cat. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005: 59, fig. 58b, 73, 269 (not in the exhibition).
2006
Milam, Jennifer. Fragonard's Playful Paintings: Visual Games in Rococo Art. Manchester, 2006: 32-33, 39, 42, 131, 139.
2009
Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 40, 195-203, color repro.
2012
Percival, Melissa. Fragonard and the Fantasy Figure: Painting the Imagination. Burlington, Vt., 2012: 223, 224, fig. 6.13.
Wikidata ID
Q20178667