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The Little Park

ca. 1763
Not on view
The Little Park is one of Fragonard’s most famous and enigmatic subjects. He treated it six times—in two red chalk drawings, a counterproof re-worked in brown wash, an oil painting, a gouache, and the present work--an etching. Although it does not seem to depict an actual site, the composition and motifs relate closely to drawings he had made in the gardens of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, outside Rome.

Done on an intimate scale and in a delicate technique of silvery black lines, the print alternates planes of sunlight and shadow to create the effect of spatial recession in the formal, and somewhat overgrown, garden.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Little Park
  • Artist: Jean Honoré Fragonard (French, Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
  • Date: ca. 1763
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 5 3/4 x 8 3/16 in. (14.6 x 20.8 cm)
    Plate: 4 13/16 x 6 9/16 in. (12.3 x 16.7 cm)
    Image: 4 1/8 × 5 9/16 in. (10.4 × 14.2 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2011
  • Object Number: 2011.91
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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The Little Park, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Gouache on vellum
Returned to lender
The Little Park
Jean Honoré Fragonard
ca. 1765
The Little Park, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Red chalk
Returned to lender
The Little Park
Jean Honoré Fragonard
ca. 1761-63
The Little Park, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown and gray wash and some<br/>white gouache (at lower left), over a red chalk counterproof
Returned to lender
The Little Park
Jean Honoré Fragonard
ca. 1763-65
The Little Park, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Red chalk
Returned to lender
The Little Park
Jean Honoré Fragonard
ca. 1761-63
Danse de satyres, Jean Honoré Fragonard French, Etching, first state
Danse de satyres
Jean Honoré Fragonard
n.d.

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