PROPERTY OF THE HEIRS OF JOHN NICHOLAS BROWN, LOTS 288-90 Fragonard's drawings based on the sixteenth century epic poem Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) are among the most highly lauded works in the great French eighteenth century artist's later oeuvre. While celebrated and well-known since 1880 when approximately 136 of the 176 known drawings for this series appeared in the Roger Walferdin sale in Paris, the answer to one important question continues to elude us: for what purpose did Fragonard create this group of drawings? Ariosto's poem, first published in its entirety in 1532, tells the story of the knight Orlando who during the reign of Charlemagne battles the Saracens and pursues his love, the pagan princess Angelica. The myriad of characters were involved in multiple plot lines of love, war, chivalry and fantasy. The poem remained consistently popular from its initial publications through subsequent editions and translations well into the nineteenth century. Orlando Furioso also inspired the visual arts: from its inception there have been illustrated publications, as well as paintings, drawings and prints based on episodes from the poem. Fragonard's drawings, believed to have been executed in the late eighteenth century when he had stopped painting almost entirely, demonstrate a careful reading of the text and a deep understanding of the chivalric and adventurous spirit of the story. Certain episodes are illustrated with multiple drawings, yet others not at all. The absence of any early provenance and the occasional appearance of unpublished drawings on the market leads to the inevitable speculation that an even greater number of drawings were initially created. Indeed from Mongan, Hofer and Seznec's 1945 book until Dupuy-Vachey's 2003 publication, nearly 30 more drawings for the series have come to light. The drawings executed in chalk, wash and pen with great bravura and flourishing strokes, are not highly finished enough to be easily translated into prints. Nor are there any paintings based on the drawings. Yet we are left with the inescapable evidence in all 176 sheets that Fragonard understood this complex poem profoundly and sought to express it in a clear visual fashion that was also distinctly his own. These three drawings were all part of a group of 136 drawings from the series that were in the collection of Hippolyte Walferdin, the great 19th-Century French collector of eighteenth century French art. The group passed intact through several collections until Dr. Rosenbach of Philadelphia began selling off individual or small groups of drawings in the 1920s. As Dr. Rosenbach wrote to John Nicholas Brown on 6 January 1928, 'I have never sold any of the Fragonards but have now made up my mind to do so. I have been holding the lot as a collection, but will now sell the drawings separately' (in K. Rorschach, Eighteenth century French book illustration: drawings by Fragonard and Gravelot from the Rosenbach Museum and Library, Philadelphia, 1985, p. 26). Brown acquired nine drawings from Rosenbach later that month (Dupuy-Vachey nos. 20, 22, 24, 84, 92, 94, 125, 149, 173). All text below is taken from Ludovico Ariosto, Orlando Furioso, B. Reynolds, ed., London, 1975.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Grasse 1732-1806 Paris)

Ruggiero unchains Angelica

Details

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (Grasse 1732-1806 Paris)
Ruggiero unchains Angelica
black chalk, brown and grey wash, watermark device
15 x 10 in. (38 x 25.4 cm.)

Provenance

Possibly the family of the artist.
Hippolyte Walferdin; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 12 April 1880, part of lot 228, where acquired by
Louis Roederer, Rheims, by descent to his nephew
Léon Orly-Roederer, who consigned them to Agnew's;
with Agnew's, London, 1922, and sold en bloc to
D.A.S.W. Rosenbach, Philadelphia (FF4,000,000) who sold 9 drawings from the series to
John Nicholas Brown, January 1928, and by descent to the present owners.

Literature

E. Mongan, P. Hofer and J. Seznec, Fragonard drawings for Ariosto, Washington, D.C., 1945, pl. 69.
M.-A. Dupuy-Vachey, Fragonard et le Roland Furieux, Paris, 2003, pp. 218, 385, no. 94.

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Lot Essay

From Canto X, verse 111:
The lovely damsel, during the commotion,
Ruggiero's movements eagerly had followed.
'Fair sir,' she called to him in deep emotion,
Fearing the orc might wake where now it wallowed,
'Release me first, then drown me in the ocean!
Ah! let me by this monster not be swallowed!'
Ruggiero saw the justice of her plea.
Leaving the orc unslain, he set her free.

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