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Photo © President and Fellows of Harvard College
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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1992.2
People
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French (Grasse 1732 - 1806 Paris)
Title
The First Steps
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1780-85
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/294444

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black and white chalk on lightly faded blue antique laid paper
Dimensions
17.1 x 22.5 cm (6 3/4 x 8 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • watermark: None

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Baron R. de Portalis, Paris. [R. Ederheimer, New York], by 1915. Private Collection, France, sold; through [Christie's, New York, January 15, 1992, lot 91], to; Harvard Art Museums, 1992

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Isabella Grandin Fund and Marian H. Phinney Fund
Accession Year
1992
Object Number
1992.2
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Pierre Rosenberg, Fragonard, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 1988), repr. as fig. 6, under cat. 303, on p. 573
  • Eunice Williams, "Gens, Honorez Fragonard!": Works from the Collections of Harvard University and Harvard Friends, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 1993), checklist no. 21, discussed and repr. in unpaginated essay
  • Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, Fragonard, Editions Terrail (Paris, 2006), p. 223, repr. p. 225 (color)
  • Dr. Astrid Reuter, Fragonard: Poesie & Leidenschaft, exh. cat., Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, 2013), p. 164, fig. 17/2
  • Eunice Williams, "Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Two Drawings from the 1780s in the Fogg", Master Drawings, Master Drawings Association (New York, 2015), vol. 53, no. 4, Winter, pp. 503-506, p. 503, repr. p. 504 as fig. 1
  • Perrin Stein, Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant: Works from New York Collections, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale University Press (New York, 2016), p. 28, repr. p. 33 as fig. 27
  • Satish Padiyar, Fragonard: Painting Out of Time, Reaktion Books (London, 2020), pp. 79-80, fig. 45, repr.
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr. and Edouard Kopp, French Drawings from the Age of Claude, Poussin, Watteau, and Fragonard: Highlights from the Collection of the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), p, 238, fig. 4
  • Jean-Honoré Fragonard's Very First Version of "L'enfant chéri", auct. cat., Galerie Malibran (Paris, 2023), p. 5, ill. 3

Exhibition History

  • “Gens, Honorez Fragonard!”: Works from the Collection of Harvard University and Harvard Friends, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/15/1993 - 07/11/1993
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 10 Rotation 2), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/15/2010 - 11/06/2010
  • HAA 10 Survey Course (S421): The Western Tradition: Art Since the Renaissance (Fall 11 Rotation 2), Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 10/07/2011 - 11/05/2011
  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 04/19/2017 - 09/13/2017

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu