Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Probablement collection Marin ;
Sa vente, Paris, Me Serreau, 22 mars 1790, lot n°344 ;
Acquis chez Bob Haboldt, en 2008

Probablement Baron R. Portalis, Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1889, p. 292 ;
Probablement P. de Nolhac, J.H. Fragonard 1732 - 1806, Paris, 1906, p. 137 ;
Probablement G. Wildenstein, The Paintings of Fragonard. Complete Edition, Londres, 1960, p. 296, n°440, La rivière aux barques (perdu) ;
Probablement P. Rosenberg, Tout l'œuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, p. 130 (perdu)

On the naked eye: Oil on a flat oak panel, slightly beveled on the edges. Vertical wood grain. Under UV lamp : We can notice a local small restoration in the upper right angle. Very tiny local restorations in the sky. A restoration in the bottom of the trees foliage in the center of the composition. Some repaints of the contours of the tree trunks and the foliage on the upper left. Restoration satiny varnish, regular, with good transparency.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Au Siècle des Lumières, de nombreux amateurs français s’intéressèrent à la peinture hollandaise du XVIIe siècle. Les scènes de genre tantôt délicates tantôt truculentes, les précieuses nature mortes des peintres des Ecoles du Nord ainsi que leurs paysages verdoyants et réalistes séduisirent les collectionneurs et vinrent orner les murs de leurs demeures où les invités et visiteurs pouvaient les admirer. Ce goût ne manqua pas de se répandre également parmi les artistes qui fréquentaient ces amateurs et purent s’imprégner des subtiles atmosphères des peintres de Leyde, Haarlem ou Amsterdam, jusqu’ici délaissés au profit des maîtres italiens.

Fragonard n’échappa pas à cette tendance et développa une grande admiration pour le paysage hollandais et particulièrement pour l’art de Jacob van Ruysdael. Il réalisa dans cette veine de nombreuses scènes d’extérieur aux feuillages nuancés de vert et de brun, aux cascades bouillonnantes environnées de rochers et aux ciels peuplés de nuages denses et fuyants. Notre Elégante assemblée débarquant dans un parc est un magnifique exemple de cette production, illustrant d’une part l’assimilation par le peintre de la douceur de l’atmosphère et du coloris du paysage hollandais du XVIIe siècle mais également sa capacité à le dépasser et à l’adapter à son inspiration et au goût de ses contemporains.

Les grands arbres aux feuillages luxuriants de notre tableau abritent en effet de nombreuses petites figures, vêtues avec élégance et s’adonnant à des plaisirs champêtres, jouant de la musique, navigant sur des barques ou surprises en pleine conversation galante sur la rive. Fragonard revisite ici L’île de Cythère d’Antoine Watteau, ou sa propre Ile d’amour (mieux connue sous le titre de La fête à Rambouillet), dans une composition plus sage, teintée de douceur et de nostalgie.

During the Enlightenment, many French admirers were interested in 17th century Dutch painting. Delicate or sometimes truculent genre scenes, precious still lifes and verdant and realist landscapes by Northern European School painters seduced collectors and adorned the walls of their houses where guests and visitors could marvel at them. This tendency was not ignored by artists who frequented these collectors and absorbed the subtle atmospheres by painters from Leiden, Haarlem and Amsterdam, who before were overlooked in favor of the Italian masters.

Fragonard did not escape this trend and developed a great admiration for the Dutch landscape especially the art of Jacob van Ruysdael. He realized in this vein many outdoor scenes with green and brown-shaded foliages, bubbling waterfalls surrounded by rocks and skies inhabited by dense and vanishing clouds. Our Elegant Group Disembarking in a Park is a magnificent example of this production, illustrating in one aspect the artist’s assimilation of the gentle atmosphere and colors from 17th century Dutch landscapes; and on the other, his ability to overcome and adapt the latter to his inspiration and inclination of his contemporaries.

Large trees with lush foliage on our painting shelter many small figures dressed elegantly and engaging in rural bliss, playing music, steering the boats or caught in gallant conversation along the shore. Fragonard revisits The Island of Cythera by Antoine Watteau, or his own The Isle of Love (better known under the title of La Fête à Rambouillet), in a more refined composition tinged with sweetness and nostalgia.