拍品 3450 - A216 Zeichnungen & Grafik Alter Meister - Freitag, 27. März 2026, 10.30 AM
JEAN–HONORÉ FRAGONARD
(Grasse 1732–1806 Paris)
Tête de vieillard chauve. After 1767.
Brush and brown ink over black chalk.
35.5 x 27.8 cm. Old gilt frame.
Provenance:
- Collection of Jacques Doucet (1853-1929), Paris.
- Auction of the above collection 16/17 May 1906 no. 27.
- Collection of Marius Paulme (1863-1929), Paris.
- Auction of the above collection 25/26 May 1932, no. 12.
- Collection of Louis Watel Dehaynin (1885-1972), Normandy, France.
- Collection of Fanny and Bernard Watel, Lausanne, thence by descent.
Exhibited:
Exhibited:
- Fragonard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2 February - 8 May 1988.
Literature:
From the mid-1760s to the early 1770s, Jean-Honoré Fragonard produced an important series of depictions of older, bearded men, which have become famous as ‘Greisenköpfe’ (French: Têtes d’hommes barbus or Têtes de vieillards). The artist was inspired by the old masters, particularly Rembrandt van Rijn, but also Peter Paul Rubens and Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. As with Rembrandt, these heads ‒ mostly conceived as bust-length images and probably representing philosophers, saints or apostles ‒ served Fragonard primarily as painterly experiments. They can also be understood as studies of lighting and character, exploring themes of human wisdom, introspection and even exhaustion.
These virtuoso paintings and oil studies are renowned for their ‘impulsive’ handling of paint. Fragonard used rapid, vigorous brushstrokes that give the works the character of lively sketches, often highlighting light effects on white hair or beards. The drawings produced partly in parallel ‒ such as the present portrait ‒ are, by contrast, markedly more subtle and finely worked. They bring the sitters to life through precise psychological characterisation, masterful control of light and stronger chiaroscuro contrasts.
Through the supple and fluid use of washes, applied with the brush over black chalk, the present drawing can be dated to the period after 1767. It represents a phase in Fragonard’s career in which he achieved a high degree of ease and freedom beyond all existing technical skill. The bust-length image may be connected with the head of Saint Joseph in Fragonard’s painting Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1776‒78), now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes (fig. 1).
These virtuoso paintings and oil studies are renowned for their ‘impulsive’ handling of paint. Fragonard used rapid, vigorous brushstrokes that give the works the character of lively sketches, often highlighting light effects on white hair or beards. The drawings produced partly in parallel ‒ such as the present portrait ‒ are, by contrast, markedly more subtle and finely worked. They bring the sitters to life through precise psychological characterisation, masterful control of light and stronger chiaroscuro contrasts.
Through the supple and fluid use of washes, applied with the brush over black chalk, the present drawing can be dated to the period after 1767. It represents a phase in Fragonard’s career in which he achieved a high degree of ease and freedom beyond all existing technical skill. The bust-length image may be connected with the head of Saint Joseph in Fragonard’s painting Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1776‒78), now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Troyes (fig. 1).
CHF 20 000 / 30 000 | (€ 20 620 / 30 930)
以瑞士法郎銷售 CHF 150 000 (包含買家佣金)
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