In this print set of four etchings (see also 1996.238.1-3), Fragonard presents playful bacchanalian scenes in the form of ancient stone reliefs framed by lush, sun-dappled greenery. Whether the reliefs are based on actual antiquities (as was long assumed) or are products of the artist’s imagination, the result is a tour de force of etching. The satyrs, the nymphs, and their offspring are imbued with a convincing sense of animation that belies the conceit of the compositions as depicting time-forgotten relics.
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Credit Line:The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1996
Object Number:1996.328.4
Inscription: on rock at lower left, “Frago”
Vendor: Susan Schulman Vendor: Paul McCarron
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," January 6–April 13, 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," April 26–July 25, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant," October 6, 2016–January 8, 2017.
G.Wildenstein, nos. 3-6; Inventaire des fonds français
Georges Wildenstein Fragonard Acquafortiste. Études et documents pour servir à l'histoire de l'art français du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1956, nos. 3-6, state I/II, before numbers., ill.
Victor I. Carlson, John W. Ittmann, David Becker, Minneapolis Institute of Arts Regency to Empire, French Printmaking 1715-1814. Ex. cat., Baltimore Museum of Art, Nov. 10, 1984-Jan. 6, 1985; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Feb. 6-Mar. 31, 1985; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Apr. 27-June 23, 1985. Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, 1984, cat. no. 47, pp. 152-55.
Pierre Rosenberg, Katharine Baetjer Fragonard. Ex. cat.: Grand Palais, Paris, 24 Sept. 1987-4 Jan. 1988 and Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2 Feb.-8 May, 1988. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Paris and New York, 1987, pp. 154-57, nos. 68-70.
Perrin Stein Artists and Amateurs: Etching in 18th-Century France. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2013, cat. no. 101-4, 164, 170-71, ill.
Perrin Stein, Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, Eunice Williams, Kelsey Brosnan Fragonard--Drawing Triumphant. New York, 2016, cat. no. 29, 124-27, ill.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
