The Muleteer Attacking Don Quixote as He Lies Helpless on the Ground

1780s

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Associated Names
Jean Honoré Fragonard

Artist, French, 1732 - 1806

This is a drawing depicting a battle scene. In the foreground, an individual dressed in loose clothing is shown holding a sword aloft, poised to strike a fallen armored figure. The fallen figure is depicted lying on the ground with a sword nearby, wearing full plate armor and looking upward. In the background, other figures and possibly horses are indicated with swift lines, suggesting chaos and movement. The composition conveys intensity and action, capturing a moment of combat with energetic pencil strokes. The sketchy style of the drawing explores form and movement, evoking the tumult of a medieval or mythological battle.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    brush with brown and gray washes over black chalk on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler

  • Dimensions

    overall: 39.7 x 28.3 cm (15 5/8 x 11 1/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2000.9.13

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon, Paris, by 1795, one of 19 Don Quixote illustrations by Fragonard owned by him (sale, Paris, 1826, no. 728 [the group]); to Delaunay. Lt. Col. E. W. Blunt Mackenzie, Castle Leod, Strathpeffer, Scotland (sale, Sotheby's, London, 26 July 1933, no. 98); Hon. Irwin Boyle Laughlin, Washington, D.C. (not in Lugt), 1933; his wife, Therese Iselin Laughlin, Washington, D.C., 1941; their daughter, Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, New York, 1958; gift to NGA, 2000.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1982

  • Eighteenth Century Drawings from the Collection of Mrs. Gertrude Laughlin Chanler, NGA, Washington, D.C., 1982, no. 8.

2000

  • Drawings and Prints from the Permanent Collection (Summer 2000), National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000 (no catalogue).

Bibliography

1889

  • Portalis, Baron Roger. Fragonard, Sa vie et son oeuvre. 2 vols. Paris, 1889, 2: 215, 299.

1961

  • Ananoff, Alexandre. "Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard et son père." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1961): 155-157 (the series as by A. E. Fragonard).

  • Ananoff, Alexandre. L'oeuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732 - 1806). 4 vols. Paris, 1961-1970: 4:no. 2667 (the series as by A. E. Fragonard).

1987

  • Rosenberg, Pierre. Fragonard. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987: 499-500 (the series).

Markings

verso: stamped by French Customs

Wikidata ID

Q64581237

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