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拍品專文
La Tertre (The Mound) belongs to a body of work, made over a period of ten years, in which Fragonard reproduced the manner of 17th century Dutch landscapes, especially those of Jacob van Ruisdael (1629-1682).
Although the trips are only sketchily documented, it is certain that Fragonard traveled through Holland, probably several times, in the late 1760s and early 1770s. It seems equally clear that he painted 'Dutch' landscapes well before the journey, since the finest examples of 17th century northern landscape art were abundant in French collections and appeared with considerable frequency in the salesrooms. For example, the most renowned private collection in France, the picture cabinet of Randon de Boisset (sold in 1777), included 141 northern paintings against only 23 Italian and 73 French (including Dutch-manner landscapes by Fragonard).
While Fragonard was undoubtedly drawn to northern art by personal inclination, the popular taste for Dutch landscape surely influenced his decision to paint his own landscapes in "le gout hollandais." Some of these pictures may have been commissioned as pendants to the 17th-century Dutch paintings: the De Boynes collection sale catalogue (15 March 1785) cites a landscape "in which country women are doing their wash..." (lot 92) by Fragonard as a pendant to a painting by Jan Wynants "from the same collection." Nor was he alone in doing this; other artists now largely forgotten, such as Lantara and Bruandet, also worked in the Dutch manner.
La Tertre depicts an expansive, largely flat landscape. Overhead, dramatically articulated low-hanging clouds surge forward from behind the hill to dominate the great expanse of blue sky. Reminiscent of Ruisdael's skies, these powerful configurations of thickly painted clouds echo the shaping of the land and silhouette of the trees with a decorative sophistication foreign to Ruisdael. The shifting play of grey shadows and warm, golden sunshine across the ground - studied from Ruisdael - partially obscures the figures while brilliantly illuminating bits of the water and the jutting hill in pools of light. In style, La Tertre can be situated among Fragonard's paintings of the later 1760s and is dated to circa 1766-1768 by Cuzin and to circa 1766-1770 by Rosenberg.
The inclusion of a few tiny figures dressed in brilliant red is characteristic of Fragonard's 'Dutch' paintings and serves to enliven their otherwise muted and earthy color schemes. Ruisdael also included small figures, often dressed in red, into his landscapes, but they are peripheral, barely noticed, while Fragonard's figures assume greater prominence. This, too, might have reflected the tastes of French clients who may have found Ruisdael's landscapes too somber and sparse. At times, French artists might be called upon to remedy this: Fragonard is recorded as having added several figures to a landscape by Ruisdael, apparently at the request of its owner. The Pond (Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum), which is the only landscape by Fragonard known to have been directly copied from an original by Ruisdael, differs from its Dutch model only by the prominent inclusion of two pretty washerwomen and a dog. The addition of 'rococo' figures is not mere embellishment, but a vital part of Fragonard's transformation of Ruisdael's art. Fragonard's landscapes are never slavish imitations, but rather highly conscious and personal interpretations of northern art, which find their roots in both his close study of Dutch painting and the careful observation of nature. Fragonard learned to create new 'Ruisdaels' suitable to a new age and a culture far removed from that of 17th-century Holland.
In the 19th century, the present painting was in the celebrated collection of Hippolyte Walferdin (1795-1880), who formed the greatest and most extensive collection of Fragonard's works ever assembled. Another version of La Tertre with small variations was sold at Sotheby's, Monaco, 4 November 1983, lot 647; it looks to be of inferior quality in reproductions, but is accepted as authentic by Cuzin and Rosenberg, and seems to be the picture described in the catalogue of Leroy de Senneville's sale, 5 April 1780, lot 52.
Although the trips are only sketchily documented, it is certain that Fragonard traveled through Holland, probably several times, in the late 1760s and early 1770s. It seems equally clear that he painted 'Dutch' landscapes well before the journey, since the finest examples of 17th century northern landscape art were abundant in French collections and appeared with considerable frequency in the salesrooms. For example, the most renowned private collection in France, the picture cabinet of Randon de Boisset (sold in 1777), included 141 northern paintings against only 23 Italian and 73 French (including Dutch-manner landscapes by Fragonard).
While Fragonard was undoubtedly drawn to northern art by personal inclination, the popular taste for Dutch landscape surely influenced his decision to paint his own landscapes in "le gout hollandais." Some of these pictures may have been commissioned as pendants to the 17th-century Dutch paintings: the De Boynes collection sale catalogue (15 March 1785) cites a landscape "in which country women are doing their wash..." (lot 92) by Fragonard as a pendant to a painting by Jan Wynants "from the same collection." Nor was he alone in doing this; other artists now largely forgotten, such as Lantara and Bruandet, also worked in the Dutch manner.
La Tertre depicts an expansive, largely flat landscape. Overhead, dramatically articulated low-hanging clouds surge forward from behind the hill to dominate the great expanse of blue sky. Reminiscent of Ruisdael's skies, these powerful configurations of thickly painted clouds echo the shaping of the land and silhouette of the trees with a decorative sophistication foreign to Ruisdael. The shifting play of grey shadows and warm, golden sunshine across the ground - studied from Ruisdael - partially obscures the figures while brilliantly illuminating bits of the water and the jutting hill in pools of light. In style, La Tertre can be situated among Fragonard's paintings of the later 1760s and is dated to circa 1766-1768 by Cuzin and to circa 1766-1770 by Rosenberg.
The inclusion of a few tiny figures dressed in brilliant red is characteristic of Fragonard's 'Dutch' paintings and serves to enliven their otherwise muted and earthy color schemes. Ruisdael also included small figures, often dressed in red, into his landscapes, but they are peripheral, barely noticed, while Fragonard's figures assume greater prominence. This, too, might have reflected the tastes of French clients who may have found Ruisdael's landscapes too somber and sparse. At times, French artists might be called upon to remedy this: Fragonard is recorded as having added several figures to a landscape by Ruisdael, apparently at the request of its owner. The Pond (Fort Worth, Kimbell Art Museum), which is the only landscape by Fragonard known to have been directly copied from an original by Ruisdael, differs from its Dutch model only by the prominent inclusion of two pretty washerwomen and a dog. The addition of 'rococo' figures is not mere embellishment, but a vital part of Fragonard's transformation of Ruisdael's art. Fragonard's landscapes are never slavish imitations, but rather highly conscious and personal interpretations of northern art, which find their roots in both his close study of Dutch painting and the careful observation of nature. Fragonard learned to create new 'Ruisdaels' suitable to a new age and a culture far removed from that of 17th-century Holland.
In the 19th century, the present painting was in the celebrated collection of Hippolyte Walferdin (1795-1880), who formed the greatest and most extensive collection of Fragonard's works ever assembled. Another version of La Tertre with small variations was sold at Sotheby's, Monaco, 4 November 1983, lot 647; it looks to be of inferior quality in reproductions, but is accepted as authentic by Cuzin and Rosenberg, and seems to be the picture described in the catalogue of Leroy de Senneville's sale, 5 April 1780, lot 52.