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Head of an Italian Peasant
Jean Honoré Fragonard French
Not on view
We know from the inscription in the hand of Fragonard’s patron Bergeret that this drawing was made in Rome in 1774. The sitter exemplifies one of Fragonard’s favored types, a weather-beaten but virile man of indeterminate age. Similar figures can be found throughout his painted body of work, in biblical, mythological, and genre scenes. Here, Fragonard studies a flesh-and-blood man, using translucent brown wash not only to establish the topography of the man’s furrowed face but also to explore the psychological expressiveness of his timeworn features.
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