Don Quixote Attacking the Biscayan

1780s

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Associated Names
Jean Honoré Fragonard

Artist, French, 1732 - 1806

This is a drawing of a medieval battle scene. The illustration depicts armored soldiers engaged in combat, including some on horseback. Various elements in motion are featured, such as horses rearing, knights brandishing swords, and overturned objects. The lines are loose and expressive, conveying the urgency and intensity of the scene. Shading techniques provide depth to the figures and suggest movement. The drawing is detailed yet sketched, leaving room for the viewer's interpretation. It could be a preparatory sketch for a more polished artwork.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    brush with brown and gray washes over charcoal on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Gertrude Laughlin Chanler

  • Dimensions

    overall: 41.4 x 28.7 cm (16 5/16 x 11 5/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    2000.9.8

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Baron Dominique-Vivant Denon, Paris, by 1795, one of 19 Don Quixote illustrations 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. 96); 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. 11.

2000

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

Bibliography

1877

  • Portalis, Baron Roger de. Les dessinateurs d'illustrations au 18e siècle. 2 parts in 4 vols. Paris, 1877, 1 (pt. 1): 224, 229 (the series).

1889

  • Portalis, Baron Roger de. Fragonard. Sa vie et son oeuvre. 2 vols. Paris, 1889: 2: 215, 299 (the series).

1945

  • Mongan, Elizabeth, Philip Hofer, and Jean Seznec. Fragonard: Drawings for Ariosto. New York, 1945: 19-20, 35 (the series).

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 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 Alexandre Evariste Fragonard).

1978

  • Williams, Eunice. Drawings by Fragonard in North American Collections. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington; Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge; and Frick Collection, New York. Washington, 1978: under no. 60 (the series).

1987

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

1996

  • Laughton, Bruce. "Daumier's Drawings of Don Quixote." Master Drawings 34, no. 4 (Winter 1996): 400-401 (the series).

2000

  • Rosenberg, Pierre. From Drawing to Painting: Poussin, Watteau, Fragonard, David, and Ingres (The A.W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts, 1996, Series XXV). Princeton, 2000: 155, fig. 200.

2003

  • Dupuy-Vachey, Marie-Anne. Fragonard et le Roland Furieux. Paris, 2003: 8 (the series).

2007

  • Dupuy-Vachey, Marie-Anne. Fragonard: Les plaisirs d'un siècle. Exh. cat. Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, 2007: 140-142 (the series).

2009

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009: 208, fig. 1 (color).

Wikidata ID

Q64581240

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