Entry
This early masterpiece by Jean-Honoré Fragonard demonstrates his brilliant command — even at the beginning of his career — of the rococo pictorial idiom that was in its ascendancy in the 1750s and that he had absorbed through his close relationship with
With its pendant, Aurora (sometimes called Venus Awakening)
Besides complementing each other compositionally, Fragonard’s two paintings are related in their themes. Aurora, ushering in the new day, provides the counterpart to Diana and Endymion, which symbolizes night. Entranced by the shepherd’s beauty, the goddess Diana visits him one night as he sleeps. She steals a kiss, causing him to fall in love with her; their liaison angers Jupiter, who offers Endymion a choice between instant death and a perpetual slumber that will always preserve his youth. The iconology of the subject is complex,
I think he’s very good-looking, Aphrodite [says Selene], especially when he sleeps with his cloak under him on the rock, with his javelins just slipping out of his left hand as he holds them, and his right hand bent upwards round his head and framing his face makes a charming picture, while he’s relaxed in sleep and breathing in the sweetest way imaginable. Then I creep down quietly on tip-toe, so as not to waken him and give him a fright, and then — but you can guess; there’s no need to tell you what happens next. You must remember I’m dying of love.
The appearance of Cupid in Fragonard’s painting alludes to an earlier part of the exchange, when Aphrodite asks why Selene frequently descends from the sky to gaze upon Endymion. She replies, “Ask your own son, Aphrodite; it’s his fault.”
When it entered the National Gallery of Art in 1960, Diana and Endymion carried an attribution to Boucher, Fragonard’s first teacher. Boucher’s name had been associated with the painting since at least the late nineteenth century, when it was in the collection of Sir Richard Wallace in Paris.
Once the true authorship of the Washington painting is recognized and it is reunited with its pendant, Aurora, the two paintings fit comfortably with several works Fragonard produced while a student in Paris before his departure for Rome in 1756. For example, the combination of two mythological characters in decorative compositions clearly intended as overdoors and of similar style, color, and elegiac mood had already been employed in a pair of paintings produced around 1755: Jupiter and Callisto and Cephalus and Procris (Angers, Musée des Beaux-Arts). These two works had also been attributed at one time to Boucher.
The evolution of Fragonard’s early career has been the subject of debate. As Bailey has discussed, Boucher clearly continued to exert an important influence on his former protégé, even during the years Fragonard was attending classes at the Ecole des élèves protégés.
This text was previously published 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, DC, 2009), 151–156.
Collection data may have been updated since the publication of the print volume. Additional light adaptations have been made for the presentation of this text online.
Richard Rand
January 1, 2009
Provenance
Sir Richard Wallace, 1st bt. [1818-1890], London and Paris, by 1883;[1] by inheritance to his wife, Julie-Amélie-Charlotte Castelnau, Lady Wallace [1819-1897], Paris and London; by inheritance to her adviser and secretary, Sir John Murray Scott [1847-1912], London and Paris; by inheritance to his friend, Josephine Victoria Sackville-West, Lady Sackville [1864-1936], Sevenoaks, Kent [painting remained in Paris during this time]; sold 1913 to (Jacques Seligmann and Co., Inc., Paris and New York, no. 579 of Seligmann inventory); sold 1914 to (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York, and Paris); sold March 1922 to John McCormack [1884-1945], New York; (M. Knoedler & Co., London, New York, and Paris); sold 1924 to William R. Timken [1866-1949], New York;[2] by inheritance to his widow, Lillian Guyer Timken [1881-1959] New York; bequest 1960 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1883
- L'Art du XVIIIe siècle, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1883-1884, no. 7, as by Boucher.
- 1920
- Loan Exhibition of Paintings by Old Masters, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, 1920, no. 90, repro., as by Boucher.
- 1966
- Loan for display with permanent collection, Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 1966-1981, as by Boucher.
- 1991
- The Loves of the Gods: Mythological Painting from Watteau to David, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Kimbell Art Musuem, Fort Worth, 1991-1992, no. 60, repro.
- 2015
- Fragonard amoreux: galant et libertin, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 2015-2016.
Technical Summary
The support is a fine-weight, plain-weave fabric. The tacking margins have been removed, and the painting has been double-lined. There is a vertical seam in the original fabric approximately 24 cm from the left edge. The painting’s original shape was changed radically during an early conservation treatment. The X-radiographs indicate that four fabric inserts were added to the painting to change it from a curvilinear, scalloped shape to a rectangular format. There is almost no sign of cusping along the edges of the original fabric, indicating that the painting may have been larger at one time.
The ground consists of a smooth, white layer that partially conceals the fabric texture. The artist used a wet-into-wet technique to apply the paint as a generally thin, fluid paste with no impasto. There are no obvious pentimenti, but the X-radiographs reveal that the position of Diana’s head was changed and that Endymion’s staff originally was longer. The X-radiographs also indicate that slight adjustments were made to the position of Endymion’s legs and to the right horn of the moon.
The painting is in good condition. The joins and seams between all the fabric pieces are slightly raised, and weave interference from the lining fabric is visible on the surface. There is a large U-shaped tear in the sky in the upper left quadrant and a smaller tear in the lower left corner. Both tears have been mended. Numerous small losses to the ground and paint are scattered throughout the painting. It was treated in 1982 to remove discolored varnish, and the varnish and inpainting applied at that time have not discolored.
Bibliography
- 1906
- Soullié, Louis, and Charles Masson. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint et dessiné de François Boucher. Paris, 1906: no. 124 (published as a supplement to André Michel, François Boucher, Paris, 1906).
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 18, as by Boucher.
- 1968
- National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 11, repro., as Boucher
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 40, repro., as Boucher
- 1980
- Ananoff, Alexandre, with Daniel Wildenstein. L'opera completa di Boucher. Milan, 1980: no. 36.
- 1984
- Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 334, no. 447, color repro., as by François Boucher.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 59, repro., as Boucher
- 1985
- The First Painters of the King. Exh. cat. Stair Sainty Matthiesen, New York; New Orleans Museum of Art; Columbus Museum of Art, 1985:137
- 1986
- Cuzin, Jean-Pierre. "Fragonard dans les musées français." Revue du Louvre (1986):58+, n. 6
- 1987
- Cabanne, Pierre. Fragonard. Paris, 1987: 19.
- 1987
- Rosenberg, Pierre. Fragonard. Exh. Cat. Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1987-1988. Paris, 1987: 34, repro.
- 1988
- Cuzin, Jean-Pierre. Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Paris,1988:39, repro.
- 1989
- Rosenberg, Pierre. Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard. Paris, 1989:28
- 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: 214, fig. 80a (not in the exhibition).
- 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. 29, 151-156, color repro.
- 2015
- Goulemot, Jean M. Le petit dictionnaire: Fragonard, en 16 plaisirs. Paris, 2015: 76-77, color repro.
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