'LA SURPRISE'

THIS MASTERLY LITTLE PANEL WAS UNKNOWN BEFORE ITS DISCOVERY IN 1988. IT IS PAINTED IN THE SO-CALLED 'METSU MANNER' THAT FRAGONARD ADOPTED IN THE LATE 1770S AND EMPLOYED THROUGHOUT THE FOLLOWING DECADE. SOME OF THE PICTURES THAT HE CREATED IN THE STYLE OF THE DUTCH 'LITTLE MASTERS' OF THE 17TH CENTURY WERE MADE IN COLLABORATION WITH HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, THE PAINTER MARGUERITE GRARD (1761-1837), WHO MOVED INTO THE FRAGONARD HOME IN 1775. SEVERAL OF THESE COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS, INCLUDING THE PENDANTS THE FIRST STEP OF INFANCY AND THE BELOVED CHILD (C.1785; FOGG ART MUSEUM, CAMBRIDGE), WERE REPRODUCED IN CONTEMPORARY ENGRAVINGS THAT IDENTIFIED THE PAINTINGS AS THE WORK OF BOTH ARTISTS. ALL OF THE DOZEN OR SO PICTURES PRODUCED BY THIS PARTNERSHIP EXHIBIT THE GREATEST REFINEMENT OF TECHNIQUE AND DELICACY OF TASTE, AND IT IS EVIDENT THAT THE TWO ARTISTS WORKED TOGETHER TO THEIR MUTUAL BENEFIT. HOWEVER, THEIR DIFFERENT TECHNICAL SKILLS AND STYLES OF PAINTING DID NOT BLEND SEAMLESSLY, REGARDLESS OF HOW WELL THEY HARMONIZED, AND IT IS POSSIBLE - DESPITE SOME CONTROVERSIES - TO SEPARATE THE ARTISTS' HANDS.

IN PUBLISHING 'LA SURPRISE' FOR THE FIRST TIME SHORTLY AFTER ITS DISCOVERY, PIERRE ROSENBERG PLACED IT AT THE VERY END OF FRAGONARD'S CAREER, AT THE SAME MOMENT AS THE LARGE PANEL KNOWN AS THE REVERIE (THE FRICK COLLECTION, NEW YORK), WHICH IS DOCUMENTED TO 1790. HE ALSO RAISED THE QUESTION OF THE POSSIBLE PARTICIPATION OF GRARD IN ITS EXECUTION. MARIANNE ROLAND MICHEL HAS POINTED OUT THE UNLIKELIHOOD OF COLLABORATION ON A PANEL OF SUCH SMALL DIMENSIONS, BUT SHE HAS ALSO OBSERVED THAT THE TREATMENT OF FABRICS IN 'LA SURPRISE' AND, INDEED, THE WHOLE CONCEPTION OF THE DRAPED FEMALE FORM IS CHARACTERISTIC OF FRAGONARD'S LATE PAINTINGS, AND QUITE DIFFERENT FROM GRARD'S WORKS OF THIS PERIOD. GRARD WAS A MASTER OF RECREATING THE SHIMMERING SURFACES OF SILKS AND SATINS WITH METICULOUS, ALMOST PHOTOGRAPHIC, EXACTITUDE; LIKE TER BORCH AND THE DUTCH PAINTERS SHE EMULATED, SHE DID NOT LEAVE A BRUSHSTROKE VISIBLE. FRAGONARD NEVER WORKED TO ERADICATE HIS PRESENCE SO COMPLETELY.

IN 'LA SURPRISE' A STARTLED YOUNG LADY PUTS DOWN HER BOOK AND BECKONS WARILY TOWARD AN UNSEEN PRESENCE - PRESUMABLY A LOVER - WHO HAS SUDDENLY ARRIVED. A HALF SEEN GARDEN SCULPTURE SEEMS TO BE A VERSION OF THE MENACING CUPID (1757; LOUVRE, PARIS), WHICH FRAGONARD MEMORABLY INCLUDED IN THE SWING (1767; THE WALLACE COLLECTION, LONDON) PAINTED MORE THAN 20 YEARS EARLIER; IN BOTH PAINTINGS, FALCONET'S CUPID PUTS A FINGER TO HIS LIPS TO URGE OUR SILENT COMPLICITY. (THE BASE OF THE STATUE CARRIES FRAGONARD'S PARTLY EFFACED BUT CHARACTERISTIC SIGNATURE.) THE YOUNG WOMAN'S SUMPTUOUS GOWN EVOKES THE QUALITIES OF SILK - ITS WEIGHT AND SHEEN - WITH UNCANNY TRUTH, BUT FRAGONARD DID NOT LABOR TO REPRODUCE THE PRECISE APPEARANCE OF THE FABRIC, AS GRARD WOULD HAVE DONE. IN FACT, THE TECHNIQUE THAT FRAGONARD EMPLOYS HERE IS MORE GRAPHIC THAN PAINTERLY AND CLOSELY PARALLELS THE CRISP HANDLING OF RED CHALK EVIDENT IN HIS MANY STUDIES OF YOUNG GIRLS MADE AT APPROXIMATELY THE SAME TIME (FIG. 1; RIJKSMUSEUM, AMSTERDAM).

THE SEPULCHRAL LIGHTING AND DRY, BRUSHY APPLICATION OF PAINT IN THE FOLIAGE CAN BE FOUND IN ANOTHER SMALL PANEL PAINTING FROM LATE IN FRAGONARD'S CAREER, THE INVOCATION TO LOVE (C.1785; LOUVRE, PARIS). PROF. HELEN WESTON HAS DESCRIBED THESE PICTURES WELL: 'TYPICAL OF FRAGONARD'S WORK AT THIS PERIOD ARE THE LIGHT AND DARK CONTRASTS, THE SENSE OF DRAMA AND EXPECTANCY, THE PREDOMINANCE OF BROWN AND WHITE TONES AND THE TEXTURAL CONTRASTS DRAWN BETWEEN HARD STONE...AND THE LIGHT, SOFT FEATHERS, FLESH, HAIR AND DRAPERY OF THE FIGURES' (IN THE CATALOGUE OF THE EXHIBITION, 1789: FRENCH ART DURING THE REVOLUTION, COLNAGHI, NEW YORK, 1989, P. 196).

IN THE HANDS OF BOILLY, MARGUERITE GRARD, OR ANY OF THEIR TALENTED CONTEMPORARIES, 'LA SURPRISE' WOULD HAVE BECOME A CHEERFUL FASHION PLATE WITH AN AMUSING EROTIC TWIST. WHO BUT FRAGONARD COULD HAVE INFUSED IT WITH SUCH A POIGNANT MIXTURE OF UNCERTAINTY AND QUIVERING ANTICIPATION?

IN A FRENCH EMPIRE FRAME.