Jean-Honoré Fragonard (called “the Amiable Frago” by his friends) was born on April 5, 1732 into a solidly middle-class family. They resided in the city of Grasse in the hills of southeastern France, not far from the Mediterranean. His father, François Fragonard, was a glove manufacturer. Somewhere around this time he invested heavily into a business plan to supply Paris with its first fire pump, in which he lost his money. In an attempt to recover it, he moved with his family to the capital, where the matter ended in a ruinous lawsuit. Honoré was about six at this time. The family had rather standard ambitions for their only child, and by his mid-teens they obtained for Honoré a desirable clerkship with a notaryÑŽ
c.1750-52. Oil on canvas. 117 x 91 cm. The Toledo Museum of Art. Toledo, OH, USA.
c.1750-52. Oil on oval canvas. 47 x 32 cm. Louvre, Paris, France.
1752. Oil on canvas. Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France. Read Note.
1752-53. Oil on canvas. 114 x 133 cm. National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland. Read Note.
1753-54. Oil on canvas. 168 x 192 cm. National Gallery, London, UK. Read Note.
c.1753-56. Oil on canvas. 80 x 164 cm. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
c.1758-61. Oil on canvas. 64 x 75 cm. Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO, USA.
c.1759. Oil on canvas. 47 x 60 cm. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
c.1759. Oil on canvas. 48.9 x 59.4 cm. The Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia.
1759. Oil on canvas. 73 x 97 cm. Louvre, Paris, France.
1760. Red chalk. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Besançon, France.
1760. Oil on canvas. 72.5 x 60.5 cm. Louvre, Paris, France.
c.1760. Oil on canvas. Musée-Villa Fragonard, Grasse, France.
c.1761-62. Oil on canvas. Wallace Collection, London, UK.
c.1762-63. Pen and brown ink and brown and gray wash over black chalk. 21.5 x 16.5 cm. Private collection.
c.1762-64. Oil on canvas. 34 x 45.6 cm. Private collection.
c.1762-64. Oil on canvas. 64 x 80 cm. Louvre, Paris, France.
c. 1762-1765. Oil on canvas. Musee des Beaux-Arts, Angers. Read Note.
1760s. Oil on oval canvas. 37 x 34 cm. Private collection. Read Note.
1760s. Oil on canvas. 34 x 65 cm. Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, France.
Fragonard. Biographical and Critical Study by Jacques Thuillier. 1967. Geneva.
Fragonard's Allegories of Love by Andrei Molotiu. Getty Publications, 2008.
Fragonard by Pierre Rosenberg. Harry N Abrams, 1988.
Fragonard's Playful Paintings: Visual Games in Rococo Art by Jennifer Milam. Manchester University Press, 2007.
Jean-Honore Fragonard: Life and Work: Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings by Jean-Pierre Cuzin. Harry N Abrams, 1988.
The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting by Colin B. Bailey, Philip Conisbee, Thomas W. Gaehtgens. Yale University Press, 2003.