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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.286
People
Marguerite Gérard, French (1761 - 1837)
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French (Grasse 1732 - 1806 Paris)
Title
Monsieur Fanfan
Classification
Prints
Work Type
print
Date
1782
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/317611

Physical Descriptions

Technique
Etching and stipple
Dimensions
Image: 22 × 17.9 cm (8 11/16 × 7 1/16 in.)
Sheet: 24.2 × 18.4 cm (9 1/2 × 7 1/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.l. margin: Fragonard; l.r. margin; Gerard
  • inscription: printed, lower margin: epreuve avant la lettre
  • inscription: printed, lower left margin: Fragonard
  • inscription: printed, lower right margin: Gerard

State, Edition, Standard Reference Number

Standard Reference Number
IFF, vol IX, no. 29, p. 291; IFF, vol. X, no. 5, p. 108; Baudicour (Gérard) 3; Wildenstein 29

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Acquisition Fund for Prints
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.286
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Commentary
This delicate print engages in an idealized rococo childhood as a toddling baby boy struggles to keep his prized Punch and Judy dolls away from a nipping pair of spaniels. This is the first work on paper by Gérard to enter the collection-it represents a collaboration with her teacher, Fragonard, whose signature is printed in the margin opposite hers. The location of Fragonard's painting of the same subject is currently unknown. The etching complements the Fogg's pendant set of her paintings (which also involved Fragonard): The First Steps, and The Beloved Child, each of which combines dogs or cats with a baby. While these works may seem sentimental to modern eyes, their popularity reflects the renewed interest in childhood and the education of children brought about by the recent publication of Rousseau's Emile.

Publication History

  • Pierre Rosenberg, Fragonard, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 1988), cat. 244, pp. 493-494, [not Harvard Impression; related bibliography]
  • Rena M. Hoisington and Perrin Stein, Sous les yeux de Fragonard: The Prints of Marguerite Gérard, Print Quarterly, Print Quarterly Publications (June 2012), vol. XXIX, no. 2, pp. 142-162, pp. 152-153, repr. as figs. 127, 129 [detail] [not Harvard impression, related bibliography]
  • Perrin Stein, Artists and Amateurs: Etching in 18th-century France, The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 2013), repr. as fig. 16 on p. 37 [not Harvard impression, related bibliography]
  • Perrin Stein, Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant: Works from New York Collections, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Yale University Press (New York, 2016), p. 238, repr. p. 238 as fig. 124

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/04/2021 - 02/28/2022

Related Works

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