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L'Heureuse Famille, dit Jeune Couple contemplant un enfant endormi, ou Le Retour au logis, ou La Réconciliation
Details
JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD (GRASSE 1732-1806 PARIS)
L'Heureuse Famille, dit Jeune Couple contemplant un enfant endormi, ou Le Retour au logis, ou La Réconciliation
huile sur toile
71 x 89 cm (28 x 35 in.)
L'Heureuse Famille, dit Jeune Couple contemplant un enfant endormi, ou Le Retour au logis, ou La Réconciliation
huile sur toile
71 x 89 cm (28 x 35 in.)
Provenance
[Peut-être] Guillaume Jean Constantin (1755-1816), Paris ; sa vente après décès, en sa maison (rue Saint-Lazare, 52), Paris, 18 novembre 1816 et jours suivants, lot 365 ('Deux jeunes époux venant contempler leur enfant, endormi dans son berceau [...]. L. 32 p., h. 26. T' - selon J.-P. Cuzin, 1988, voir infra) ;
[Peut-être] Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Alexis-Nicolas Pérignon (1785-1864), expert de la vente (adjugé 7 francs).
Henry Didier (1823-1868), dès au moins 1860 (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1860, voir infra) ; sa vente après décès, 15 juin 1868, (Me Pillet), lot 59 (comme La Réconciliation ou Le Retour au logis) ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Pauline-Léontine-Elisabeth-Désirée Mesnage dite Mademoiselle Denain (1823-1892) (selon G. Wildenstein, 1960, voir infra) ; sa vente après décès, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6-7 avril 1893, (Me Chevallier), lot 12 ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par M. Montagnac, pour l'Amérique (selon G. Wildenstein, 1960, voir infra).
Arthur Georges Veil-Picard (1854-1944), dès au moins 1906 (selon P. de Nolhac, 1906, voir infra), Paris ;
Confisqué auprès de celui-ci à la Banque de France (coffre 63) par le Devisenschutzkommando suite à l'occupation allemande de la France (ERR inv. WP 11), Paris, le 29 octobre 1940 ;
Transféré au musée du Louvre, Paris ;
Transféré au Jeu de Paume, Paris ;
Transféré à Buxheim, Bavière ;
Retourné en France, en mars 1946 ;
Restitué aux ayants droit d'Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, le 16 avril 1946 ;
Puis par descendance dans la famille.
[Peut-être] Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Alexis-Nicolas Pérignon (1785-1864), expert de la vente (adjugé 7 francs).
Henry Didier (1823-1868), dès au moins 1860 (selon le catalogue d'exposition de 1860, voir infra) ; sa vente après décès, 15 juin 1868, (Me Pillet), lot 59 (comme La Réconciliation ou Le Retour au logis) ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par Pauline-Léontine-Elisabeth-Désirée Mesnage dite Mademoiselle Denain (1823-1892) (selon G. Wildenstein, 1960, voir infra) ; sa vente après décès, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 6-7 avril 1893, (Me Chevallier), lot 12 ;
Acquis au cours de celle-ci par M. Montagnac, pour l'Amérique (selon G. Wildenstein, 1960, voir infra).
Arthur Georges Veil-Picard (1854-1944), dès au moins 1906 (selon P. de Nolhac, 1906, voir infra), Paris ;
Confisqué auprès de celui-ci à la Banque de France (coffre 63) par le Devisenschutzkommando suite à l'occupation allemande de la France (ERR inv. WP 11), Paris, le 29 octobre 1940 ;
Transféré au musée du Louvre, Paris ;
Transféré au Jeu de Paume, Paris ;
Transféré à Buxheim, Bavière ;
Retourné en France, en mars 1946 ;
Restitué aux ayants droit d'Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, le 16 avril 1946 ;
Puis par descendance dans la famille.
Literature
R. Portalis, Honoré Fragonard : sa vie et son oeuvre, Paris, 1889, pp. 120-121, p. 202 et p. 287.
F. Naquet, Fragonard, coll. Les artistes célèbres, Paris, 1890, p. 48.
C. Mauclair, Fragonard : biographie critique, coll. Les grands artistes, Paris, 1904, p. 51.
P. de Nolhac, J.-H. Fragonard 1732-1806, Paris, 1906, p. 83 et p. 127.
L. de Fourcaud, 'Honoré Fragonard IV. De Paris à Grasse' et 'Honoré Fragonard VII. Chronologie de l'oeuvre de Frago', La Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne, 10 janvier 1907, 11e année, XXI, 118, p. 224, p. 228 et p. 292.
V. Josz, Fragonard. Moeurs du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1901, p. 154, sous la note 1.
P. de Nolhac, Fragonard 1732-1806, Paris, 1931, p. 155.
A. Fajol, 'Fragonard', Art Méridional, 27 novembre 1937, 3e année, 27, p. 8.
J. Villain, Fragonard 1732-1806, coll. Les Maîtres, Paris, 1949, s. p.
L. Réau, Fragonard. Sa vie et son oeuvre, coll. Les grands maîtres de l'art français, Bruxelles, 1956, p. 167.
G. Wildenstein, Fragonard, New York, 1960, p. 299, n°453, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 300, fig. 189.
J. Thuillier, Fragonard : étude biographique et critique, Genève, 1967, p. 54, reproduit en couleurs p. 39.
L. Frohlich-Bume, 'Frankreich im achtzehnten Jahrhundert', Weltkunst, 1er février 1968, 38e année, 3, p. 85, reproduit en noir et blanc.
F. Deschodt, ‘1870-1970 : Un siècle de souvenirs’, Jours de France, 30 juin 1970, 810, reproduit en couleurs in situ p. 104.
D. Wildenstein, G. Mandel, L'opera completa di Fragonard, Milan, 1972, p. 107, n°478, reproduit en noir et blanc.
R. Genevoy, 'Les Veil-Picard. Une famille de financiers bisontins', Archives juives, 1985, 21e année, 1 & 2, p. 24.
P. Rosenberg, Fragonard, cat. exp., Paris, 1987, p. 441, sous le n°211, p. 443, sous le n°212, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 442, fig. 1.
J.-P. Cuzin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Life and Work. Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings, New York, 1988 (traduit du français par A. Zielonka et K.-M. Mooney ; Fribourg-Paris, 1987), p. 193, p. 196 et p. 321, n°319, reproduit en noir et blanc.
P. Rosenberg, Tout l'oeuvre de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, p. 110, n°349, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 111.
J.-P. Cuzin et al. (dir.), Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). Orígenes e influencias. De Rembrandt al siglo XXI, cat. exp., Barcelone, 2006, p. 40, sous le n°80 et p. 216, sous le n°80.
M.-A. Dupuy-Vachey, Fragonard. Les plaisirs d’un siècle, cat. exp., Paris, 2007-2008, p. 95, p. 97, sous la note 3 et p. 98, sous le n°44, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 98, fig. 44a.
F. Naquet, Fragonard, coll. Les artistes célèbres, Paris, 1890, p. 48.
C. Mauclair, Fragonard : biographie critique, coll. Les grands artistes, Paris, 1904, p. 51.
P. de Nolhac, J.-H. Fragonard 1732-1806, Paris, 1906, p. 83 et p. 127.
L. de Fourcaud, 'Honoré Fragonard IV. De Paris à Grasse' et 'Honoré Fragonard VII. Chronologie de l'oeuvre de Frago', La Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne, 10 janvier 1907, 11e année, XXI, 118, p. 224, p. 228 et p. 292.
V. Josz, Fragonard. Moeurs du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1901, p. 154, sous la note 1.
P. de Nolhac, Fragonard 1732-1806, Paris, 1931, p. 155.
A. Fajol, 'Fragonard', Art Méridional, 27 novembre 1937, 3e année, 27, p. 8.
J. Villain, Fragonard 1732-1806, coll. Les Maîtres, Paris, 1949, s. p.
L. Réau, Fragonard. Sa vie et son oeuvre, coll. Les grands maîtres de l'art français, Bruxelles, 1956, p. 167.
G. Wildenstein, Fragonard, New York, 1960, p. 299, n°453, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 300, fig. 189.
J. Thuillier, Fragonard : étude biographique et critique, Genève, 1967, p. 54, reproduit en couleurs p. 39.
L. Frohlich-Bume, 'Frankreich im achtzehnten Jahrhundert', Weltkunst, 1er février 1968, 38e année, 3, p. 85, reproduit en noir et blanc.
F. Deschodt, ‘1870-1970 : Un siècle de souvenirs’, Jours de France, 30 juin 1970, 810, reproduit en couleurs in situ p. 104.
D. Wildenstein, G. Mandel, L'opera completa di Fragonard, Milan, 1972, p. 107, n°478, reproduit en noir et blanc.
R. Genevoy, 'Les Veil-Picard. Une famille de financiers bisontins', Archives juives, 1985, 21e année, 1 & 2, p. 24.
P. Rosenberg, Fragonard, cat. exp., Paris, 1987, p. 441, sous le n°211, p. 443, sous le n°212, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 442, fig. 1.
J.-P. Cuzin, Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Life and Work. Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings, New York, 1988 (traduit du français par A. Zielonka et K.-M. Mooney ; Fribourg-Paris, 1987), p. 193, p. 196 et p. 321, n°319, reproduit en noir et blanc.
P. Rosenberg, Tout l'oeuvre de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, p. 110, n°349, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 111.
J.-P. Cuzin et al. (dir.), Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806). Orígenes e influencias. De Rembrandt al siglo XXI, cat. exp., Barcelone, 2006, p. 40, sous le n°80 et p. 216, sous le n°80.
M.-A. Dupuy-Vachey, Fragonard. Les plaisirs d’un siècle, cat. exp., Paris, 2007-2008, p. 95, p. 97, sous la note 3 et p. 98, sous le n°44, reproduit en noir et blanc p. 98, fig. 44a.
Exhibited
Paris, Galerie Martinet, Tableaux et dessins de l'école française principalement du XVIIIe siècle tirés de collections d'amateurs, 1860, n°153.
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, L'Art du XVIIIe siècle, décembre 1883-janvier 1884, n°55.
Paris, Palais du Champ de Mars, Les Arts au début du siècle, 1891 (ouverture le 9 mai), n°369.
Londres, Royal Academy of Arts, France in the Eighteenth Century, 6 janvier-3 mars 1968, n°247.
Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, L'Art du XVIIIe siècle, décembre 1883-janvier 1884, n°55.
Paris, Palais du Champ de Mars, Les Arts au début du siècle, 1891 (ouverture le 9 mai), n°369.
Londres, Royal Academy of Arts, France in the Eighteenth Century, 6 janvier-3 mars 1968, n°247.
Further Details
JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD, THE HAPPY FAMILY, CALLED YOUNG COUPLE CONTEMPLATING A SLEEPING CHILD, OR THE RETURN HOME, OR THE RECONCILIATION, OIL ON CANVAS
Though Fragonard painted many varied works, there is nonetheless one ‘Fragonard style,’ as Pierre Rosenberg reminds us (P. Rosenberg, 1989, op. cit., p. 70). The painter of the figures de fantaisie executed in 'the space of an hour', of shimmering decorations, tender embraces, landscapes, or interior scenes, displays in each genre the same singular touch. He exhibits the same pleasure in his lively and spontaneous brushwork across all his artistic modes.
This continuity of style has made it difficult to establish a precise chronology for Fragonard's oeuvre, giving rise to much hypotheses and debate. His journey to Italy from 1756 to 1761 provides a firm point of reference, somewhat arbitrarily separating works still influenced by Boucher's (1703-1770) rocaille manner from a freer mode of expression. The artist brought back an enriched iconographic repertoire from his Grand Tour, which he deployed in his subsequent works. Inserting for instance a version of Michelangelo’s Moses (1475-1564) into a seated River God (c.1773-1774, private collection), or a reclining version that borrows from Bernini (1598-1680) (sold Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2007, lot 71).
Another rich source of inspiration for the painter lay in Flanders and Holland. A revival of the Dutch Golden Age can be seen across many of the great painters of the second half of the eighteenth century, beginning with Chardin (1699-1779), whom contemporaries nicknamed the 'French Teniers.' Documented in Brussels in 1773, Fragonard incorporated into his work a brown and golden palette borrowed from these northern artists, leaning increasingly toward Rembrandt (1606-1669). As evidenced by his spectacular copy of Mercury and Argus after Karel Fabritius (1622–1654) (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. RF 1981.17), or his reworking of Rembrandt’s self-portrait in bistre (Self-Portrait with Two Circles after Rembrandt, c. 1773, private collection), the artist also copied the great Northern masters to increase his understanding of their art.
Fragonard produced a number of interior scenes in this dusky, Northern palette. An engraving dated 1778 by Fragonard himself, titled L’Armoire after a wash drawing (Kunsthalle, Hamburg, inv. 24005), provides a chronological marker for these genre scenes. In L’Armoire, a lover poorly concealed inside the eponymous wardrobe is discovered by the understandably irritated parents of a young woman, embarrassed by the situation and crouched in a corner of the composition (fig. 1). The 1770s were obviously a time of concentrated production of such subjects, at times comic or tender, populated by figures dressed in costumes fashionable in the previous century.
The present painting shows a Rubenesque young woman with ample drapery alongside a boy wearing breeches and a falling collar, seemingly drawn from the scenes of van Ostade (1610-1685). Equally, the tenderness of the scene recalls those themes dear to his contemporary Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805), who placed particular prominence on family piety. Fragonard’s lightness in treating such scenes of conjugal life nevertheless distinguishes the two artists. Fragonard is Greuze without the moralizing or solemn vision, or a 'Greuze without tears', to borrow Portalis’s expression (R. Portalis, 1889, op. cit., p. 16).
Two other versions of this composition, with the young parents leaning lovingly over the cradle are known. Both in private collections (see J.-P. Cuzin, 1987, op. cit., nos. 320 and 321), they testify to the painter’s particular attraction to this scene among the many maternal subjects he produced in the 1770s. The lively and spontaneous character of the Veil-Picard version has traditionally led it to be considered the prime. As with another maternal scene, The Visit to the Wet Nurse (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., inv. 1946.7.7, fig. 2), our composition may have been inspired by the tale by the Marquis de Saint-Lambert (1716-1803), Sarah Th., or Miss Sarah, published in 1765.
In this social tale, Sarah Th., an English aristocrat, falls in love with a young farmer whom she ultimately renounces, choosing instead to marry a man who is more socially acceptable. The present scene may illustrate the following passage, 'they went together toward a cradle where their fifth child lay; both bent over the cradle, and in turn looked at the child and at one another, holding hands and smiling.' While the rustic character of the setting supports this idea, the number of children does not correspond. However, a drawing in the Musée Cognacq-Jay does precisely evoke Saint-Lambert’s tale, depicting the same young man wearing a peasant’s hat surrounded by five children (Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, inv. J.146).
A sketch preserved in Le Havre, which focuses on the man’s face, though bareheaded, with loose strands of hair, is further proof of the care Fragonard devoted to this tender scene (Musée André Malraux, Le Havre, fig. 3) and led Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey to date it to before his second Italian journey in 1773 (see M.-A. Dupuy-Vachey, 2007, op. cit., p. 98). Executed in the 1770s, this magnificent scene brilliantly illustrates the painter’s social concerns during this decade, as well as his remarkable, and distinctly Parisian interpretation of the Dutch Golden Age.
Though Fragonard painted many varied works, there is nonetheless one ‘Fragonard style,’ as Pierre Rosenberg reminds us (P. Rosenberg, 1989, op. cit., p. 70). The painter of the figures de fantaisie executed in 'the space of an hour', of shimmering decorations, tender embraces, landscapes, or interior scenes, displays in each genre the same singular touch. He exhibits the same pleasure in his lively and spontaneous brushwork across all his artistic modes.
This continuity of style has made it difficult to establish a precise chronology for Fragonard's oeuvre, giving rise to much hypotheses and debate. His journey to Italy from 1756 to 1761 provides a firm point of reference, somewhat arbitrarily separating works still influenced by Boucher's (1703-1770) rocaille manner from a freer mode of expression. The artist brought back an enriched iconographic repertoire from his Grand Tour, which he deployed in his subsequent works. Inserting for instance a version of Michelangelo’s Moses (1475-1564) into a seated River God (c.1773-1774, private collection), or a reclining version that borrows from Bernini (1598-1680) (sold Sotheby’s, New York, 24 January 2007, lot 71).
Another rich source of inspiration for the painter lay in Flanders and Holland. A revival of the Dutch Golden Age can be seen across many of the great painters of the second half of the eighteenth century, beginning with Chardin (1699-1779), whom contemporaries nicknamed the 'French Teniers.' Documented in Brussels in 1773, Fragonard incorporated into his work a brown and golden palette borrowed from these northern artists, leaning increasingly toward Rembrandt (1606-1669). As evidenced by his spectacular copy of Mercury and Argus after Karel Fabritius (1622–1654) (Musée du Louvre, Paris, inv. RF 1981.17), or his reworking of Rembrandt’s self-portrait in bistre (Self-Portrait with Two Circles after Rembrandt, c. 1773, private collection), the artist also copied the great Northern masters to increase his understanding of their art.
Fragonard produced a number of interior scenes in this dusky, Northern palette. An engraving dated 1778 by Fragonard himself, titled L’Armoire after a wash drawing (Kunsthalle, Hamburg, inv. 24005), provides a chronological marker for these genre scenes. In L’Armoire, a lover poorly concealed inside the eponymous wardrobe is discovered by the understandably irritated parents of a young woman, embarrassed by the situation and crouched in a corner of the composition (fig. 1). The 1770s were obviously a time of concentrated production of such subjects, at times comic or tender, populated by figures dressed in costumes fashionable in the previous century.
The present painting shows a Rubenesque young woman with ample drapery alongside a boy wearing breeches and a falling collar, seemingly drawn from the scenes of van Ostade (1610-1685). Equally, the tenderness of the scene recalls those themes dear to his contemporary Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805), who placed particular prominence on family piety. Fragonard’s lightness in treating such scenes of conjugal life nevertheless distinguishes the two artists. Fragonard is Greuze without the moralizing or solemn vision, or a 'Greuze without tears', to borrow Portalis’s expression (R. Portalis, 1889, op. cit., p. 16).
Two other versions of this composition, with the young parents leaning lovingly over the cradle are known. Both in private collections (see J.-P. Cuzin, 1987, op. cit., nos. 320 and 321), they testify to the painter’s particular attraction to this scene among the many maternal subjects he produced in the 1770s. The lively and spontaneous character of the Veil-Picard version has traditionally led it to be considered the prime. As with another maternal scene, The Visit to the Wet Nurse (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., inv. 1946.7.7, fig. 2), our composition may have been inspired by the tale by the Marquis de Saint-Lambert (1716-1803), Sarah Th., or Miss Sarah, published in 1765.
In this social tale, Sarah Th., an English aristocrat, falls in love with a young farmer whom she ultimately renounces, choosing instead to marry a man who is more socially acceptable. The present scene may illustrate the following passage, 'they went together toward a cradle where their fifth child lay; both bent over the cradle, and in turn looked at the child and at one another, holding hands and smiling.' While the rustic character of the setting supports this idea, the number of children does not correspond. However, a drawing in the Musée Cognacq-Jay does precisely evoke Saint-Lambert’s tale, depicting the same young man wearing a peasant’s hat surrounded by five children (Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, inv. J.146).
A sketch preserved in Le Havre, which focuses on the man’s face, though bareheaded, with loose strands of hair, is further proof of the care Fragonard devoted to this tender scene (Musée André Malraux, Le Havre, fig. 3) and led Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey to date it to before his second Italian journey in 1773 (see M.-A. Dupuy-Vachey, 2007, op. cit., p. 98). Executed in the 1770s, this magnificent scene brilliantly illustrates the painter’s social concerns during this decade, as well as his remarkable, and distinctly Parisian interpretation of the Dutch Golden Age.
Brought to you by
Pierre Etienne
International Director, Deputy Chairman of Christie's France, Old Master Paintings