Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Laid down on a card mount. Paper clean and in good order. Chalk strong. Traces of the original writing in reverse below new inscriptions.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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."

Fragonard spent five years in Italy, from 1756 until 1761.  His first years were as a pensionnaire at the French Academy in Rome, but in the spring of 1760 he met the Abbé de Saint-Non, whose enthusiastic patronage allowed him to travel extensively throughout the country.  The Abbé simply asked Fragonard to record the most important works of art that he encountered.  The result is an extraordinary group of three hundred copies after old master paintings and some sculptures, in addition to a number of views of famous sites.  On his return to Paris, Saint-Non reproduced many of the drawings as a series of aquatints, which, although the project was never realised, were probably intended to illustrate a published journal of his travels.

Most of Fragonard's drawings from this project exist as counterproofs as well, in many cases extensively reworked by the artist himself.  The original of the present page is in the British Museum, exactly the same composition, in reverse, but with slightly different inscriptions.¹  It reproduces two very famous works, Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines, which is in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, and the Sleeping Hermaphrodite which was in the Villa Borghese, Rome but is now in the Louvre. The Weeping Putto, which Saint-Non attributed to Duquesnoy, has not been identified. 

1. P. Rosenberg and B. Brejon de Lavergnée, Panopticon Italiano, Rome 1986, p. 374, no. 165.  It is possible that the present drawing is the counterproof listed there as reproduced in Le Gaulois artistique, 20 December 1926, p. 33