Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Dr. James Hasson,
sale, London, Christie's, 24 March 1961, lot 12 (bt. by Agnew's);
Lady E.M. Price

Brussels, 1937 (according to 1961 sale catalogue)

P. Rosenberg and B. Brejon de Lavergnée, Panopticon Italiano, Rome 1986, pp. 346-7, no. 48 (as Ango?), reproduced

Window mounted and laid down on an old mount within brown ink framing lines. There is a fine black chalk line running down the centre of the sheet and two similar lines running horizontally. There is a minor crease to the lower right edge and a tiny tear to the upper left corner. The sheet is otherwise in good condition and the medium is fresh.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE 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 (the Fragments and Griffonis) which, although the project was never realized, were probably intended to illustrate a published journal of his travels.  This drawing was reproduced in both the Fragments (15) and the Griffonis (152)

Saint-Non incorrectly identified the artists of the works on this page, but gave their correct locations.  The Sacred and Profane Love is by Guido Reni and is now in the Galleria Spinola, Genoa; the Venus and Cupid is by Ventura Salimbeni, now in the Museum of Sao Paolo; the Infant Christ is taken from a painting by Fra Bartolommeo, still in the Galleria Borghese; and the Caryatid is from the fresco by Raphael and his studio in the Sala di Costantino in the Vatican.