Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Anonymous sale (Mme. de Saint-Sauveur), Paris, February 12, 1776, lot 53;
Randon de Boisset;
His sale, Paris, February 27, 1777, lot 230, for 1,650 livres to Mercier;
Anonymous sale, Paris, May 23, 1780, lot 40, for 800 livres;
Possibly the Comte de Choiseul Gouffier, by 1783;
Duc de Choiseul (or Chabot);
His sale, Paris, December 10, 1787, lot 67, for 610 livres to Dulac;
Probably anonymous sale, Paris, July 8, 1793, lot 14;
Laperlier;
His sale, Paris, April 11-13, 1867, lot 33, for 790 francs to Féral;
Hippolyte Walferdin by 1860;
His sale, Paris, April 3, 1880, lot 14, for 1,230 francs;
Mme. Charles Kestner, by 1889;
G. de Lauverjat;
Arthur Veil-Picard, Paris;
Thence by descent to Mme. J. Veil-Picard, Paris;
Anonymous sale, Monte Carlo, Sotheby's, June 20-21, 1987, lot 289;
Private Collection, Switzerland;
With Colnaghi & Co., New York;
From whom purchased by the present collector on August 4, 1988;
Private Collection, New York;
Anonymous sale, ("Property of an American Collector"), New York, May 27, 2004, lot 39. 

Paris, Salon de la Correspondance, August 1783, no. 156 (or 157);
Probably Paris, Galerie Martinet, Catalogue de tableaux et dessins
de l'école française, principalement du XVIIIe siècle tirés de collections d'amateurs, 1860, no. 158 (where the description coincides fairly well, but not the dimensions- 35 by 45 cm. - and the painting is said to belong to Walferdin);
London, Royal Academy, European Masters of the Eighteenth Century, 1954-55, no. 210;
Zurich, Kunsthaus, Schönheit des 18. Jahrhunderts, 1955, no. 92;
Tokyo, National Museum of Western Art; Kyoto, Municipal Museum, Fragonard, March- June 1980, no. 29;
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais; New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fragonard, September 1987-May 1988, no. 92.

Journal de Paris, March 25, 1777, no. 84, p. 2, no. 230 (the text is incomplete);
C. Blanc, Histoire des peintres de toutes les écoles depuis la Renaissance jusqu'à nos jours, Vol. II, Paris 1862, p. 15;
E. and J. de Goncourt, Fragonard, Paris 1865 (republished in L'Art du XVIIIe siècle, 1906), p. 339;
Le Hir, "Compte-rendu de la vente du 11-13 avril 1867," Journal des amateurs d'objets d'art et de curiosité, 1867, p. 128;
R. Portalis, Honoré Fragonard: Sa Vie, son oeuvre, Paris 1889, pp. 127, 269, 289;
P. de Nolhac, J.-H. Fragonard, 1732-1806, Paris 1906, p, 140;
G. Wildenstein, "L'Exposition Fragonard au pavillon de Marsan," Revue de l'art français, no. 7, July 1921, p. 20;
J. Wilhelm, "Fragonard as a Painter of Realistic Landscapes," Art Quarterly 11, Fall 1948, p. 302;
L. Réau, Fragonard, Paris 1956, pp. 183 and 186;
G. Wildenstein, The Paintings of Fragonard, Aylesbury and Paris 1960, p. 226, no. 126, reproduced fig. 78;
J. Thuillier, Fragonard, Geneva 1967, pp. 71-72;
D. Wildenstein and G. Mandel, L'opera completa di Fragonard, Milan 1972, p. 93, no. 158, reproduced p. 92;
J.-P. Cuzin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Vie et oeuvre, Catalogue complet des peintures, Fribourg 1987, pp. 279-80, no. 110, reproduced p. 280 (as circa 1763-65);
P. Rosenberg, in Fragonard, exhibition catalogue, New York 1988, p. 195, no. 92, reproduced p. 196 (as tentatively datable to the 1770s);
P. Rosenberg, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris 1989, p. 86, no. 131, reproduced (as circa 1763-65).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting on canvas has an old lining. The surface is even and stable. Under ultraviolet light hardly any retouches are visible. There are some retouches addressing some cracks in the trees in the foreground and there are a couple of spots which have been added in the left sky. The condition is almost perfect and the picture should be celebrated for its condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

This subtle and atmospheric work by Fragonard belongs to a distinct group of his paintings that show the direct influence of the great Dutch landscape painters of the 17^th century, most notably Jacob van Ruisdael.  Whether or not Fragonard actually ever traveled to Holland has long been the subject of debate.  However, he would not necessarily have had to go to there in order to seek inspiration.  French collectors of the second half of the 18^th century had a great passion for Dutch 17^th century landscapes and some of the finest works of this genre could be found in their collections and in the Paris salesrooms.  It has even been suggested that Fragonard may have painted specific pictures to act as pendants to Dutch paintings already in French collections.¹  It is interesting to note that The Watering Place once belonged to Pierre-Louis-Paul Randon de Boisset (see Provenance), Receiver General of Finance, who amassed one of the most important collections in Paris in the 18^th century, and one that contained well over a hundred Dutch paintings.  In his sale in 1777, which offered the most important group of works by Fragonard to be auctioned in the 18th century, The Watering Place made the substantial sum of 1,650 livres.

The Watering Place may at one time have been associated as a pendant with a painting by Fragonard entitled Stormy Weather (present whereabouts unknown).   We know that Stormy Weather belonged to the Comte de Choiseul Gouffier based on an engraving after the painting made by Jean Mathieu when it was in that collection.  The Comte lent two "landscapes with figures of men and animals" to the Salon de Correspondance in 1783, and some scholars believe these two paintings were, in fact,  Stormy Weather and The Watering Place.  In addition, watercolor versions of the The Watering Place (see Figure 1) and of Stormy Weather were together in the Marquis de Lagoy collection in 1800, and their existence there together further suggests an association between these two compositions.  Pierre Rosenberg believes the watercolors to have been done after the paintings, rather than as preparatory sketches, though it is difficult to know whether they were done at the same time as the paintings or at a later date.²

Another Fragonard painting, entitled The Rock (see Figure 2), has also been linked with The Watering Place as its possible pendant.  The two paintings were in the Walferdin collection (see Provenance), though sold separately, and were again together in the de Lauverjat and Veil-Picard collections.  Rosenberg points out that in terms of composition, date and overall sensibility, these two paintings are very close.³

A preparatory study for The Watering Place, in bister wash, is in the collection of the British Museum.

1  see C. Bailey, "Conventions of the Eighteenth Century Cabinet de Tableaux," Art Bulletin, September 1987, p. 431 passim.
2  op.cit., 1988, p. 197
3  op cit., 1988, p. 198