French Rococo Era Painter, 1732-1806 was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Regime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings , of which only five are dated. Among his most popular works are genre paintings conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism. He was born at Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes, the son of François Fragonard, a glover, and Françoise Petit. He was articled to a Paris notary when his father's circumstances became strained through unsuccessful speculations, but showed such talent and inclination for art that he was taken at the age of eighteen to François Boucher, who, recognizing the youth's rare gifts but disinclined to waste his time with one so inexperienced, sent him to Chardin's atelier. Fragonard studied for six months under the great luminist, then returned more fully equipped to Boucher, whose style he soon acquired so completely that the master entrusted him with the execution of replicas of his paintings. Though not yet a pupil of the Academy, Fragonard gained the Prix de Rome in 1752 with a painting of "Jeroboam Sacrificing to the Golden Calf", but before proceeding to Rome he continued to study for three years under Charles-Andre van Loo. In the year preceding his departure he painted the "Christ washing the Feet of the Apostles" now at Grasse cathedral. On September 17, 1756, he took up his abode at the French Academy in Rome, then presided over by Charles-Joseph Natoire. While at Rome, Fragonard contracted a friendship with a fellow painter, Hubert Robert. In 1760, they toured Italy together, executing numerous sketches of local scenery. It was in these romantic gardens, with their fountains, grottos, temples and terraces, that Fragonard conceived the dreams which he was subsequently to render in his art. He also learned to admire the masters of the Dutch and Flemish schools (Rubens, Hals, Rembrandt, Ruisdael), imitating their loose and vigorous brushstrokes. Added to this influence was the deep impression made upon his mind by the florid sumptuousness of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, whose works he had an opportunity to study in Venice before he returned to Paris in 1761. In 1765 his "Coresus et Callirhoe" secured his admission to the Academy. It was made the subject of a pompous (though not wholly serious) eulogy by Diderot, and was bought by the king, who had it reproduced at the Gobelins factory. Hitherto Fragonard had hesitated between religious, classic and other subjects; but now the demand of the wealthy art patrons of Louis XV's pleasure-loving and licentious court turned him definitely towards those scenes of love and voluptuousness with which his name will ever be associated, and which are only made acceptable by the tender beauty of his color and the virtuosity of his facile brushwork;   Related Paintings of Jean-Honore Fragonard :. | Blindbock | Cephale et Procris | Selbstportrat, Oval | Portrait of Denis Diderot | Portrait of Marie-Madeleine Guimard (1743-1816), French dancer |
Related Artists:
Albertinelli, Mariotto
Italian Early Renaissance Painter, 1474-1515] Studied under Cosimo Rosselli. Albertinelli's students included Pontormo . Italian painter. Albertinelli's contribution to the Florentine High Renaissance was inspired by the work of FRA BARTOLOMMEO, and the two artists worked together in a partnership, their paintings appearing to be the product of a single hand. Albertinelli, however, always retained artistic independence, as is revealed in certain paintings that are eccentrically archaic and in others that show a preference for conventions more typical of the early Renaissance.
abel faivre
Il tudie trois ans l'École des beaux-arts de Lyon, puis a la Societe nationale et a l'Academie Julian de Paris aupres de Jules Lefebvre et Benjamin Constant. Il a souvent expose a la societe des Artistes Francais et a ete medaille de 3e classe a l'Exposition de 1894. Medaille d'honneur a l'Exposition de Lyon, il aurait vecu et travaill?? a La Croix-Valmer (Var) ou un boulevard porte son nom. Il est devenu celebre par ses affiches pour soutenir l'effort de guerre francais (1914-1918). Il a egalement travaille pour le journal humoristique Le Rire et pour Le Figaro. Ses caricatures sont visibles au Musee Jean Jaures a Castres. À titre indicatif, un exemplaire original de son affiche Sports d'Hiver, Chamonix datant de 1905 etait estime a 6000 £ par une celebre salle de ventes en 2002. Une huile sur toile La Belle Odalisque (89x61 cm) se vendit 8 000 euros en 2006.
Pieter van der Werff
(1665 - September 26, 1722) was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He assisted his older brother, Adriaen van der Werff. He learned to paint from his brother Adriaen and according to the RKD, he spent most of his life working in Rotterdam, where he painted the rich and famous