Studio: international art (64.1915)

The Fragonards of Grasse

the least tendency to let himself go in the painting.
They are careful in arrangement and execution,
and there may even be discovered a certain tendency
to timidity, but the colour is uniformly rich and
fine, and the quality of work in the third and fourth
is produced with a powerful and flowing brush.

1. In La Poursuite the idea is of a young lover
offering a rose unexpectedly to the object of his
affections who, with a companion, is overtaken in a
bower surrounded by trees and flowers. The
surprised but far from displeased look on the
young girl’s face is the chief point in the drama.
The attendant, still more youthful, appears more
knowing in her expression, while the very youthful
lover presents his rose with all the grace in the
world. High up in the picture two Cupids are
seen resting on a sea monster ornament. One
Cupid is asleep, but the other rouses himself to
observe the actions of the group below.

2. I!Escalade is much less rich in composition
and altogether not so mature a work, and it is
sometimes said to have been originally the first
of the series. Here the lover has ascended to his
young mistress by means of a ladder, and as he
attains the top, the young girl looks hurriedly
round, not with the idea of escape but rather
to ascertain that no onlookers are likely to in-
trude. The piece of statuary above carries a small
Cupid holding up his hands with a quaint ex-
pression of delight which is pleasantly accepted by
the Venus.

3. Les Souvenirs. This is the most attractive
picture in the series, being painted with a sympa-
thetic grace which is in every way delightful,
and here are the lovers, accepted and radiantly
happy, looking over their love-letters in the beauti-
ful glade to which they have wandered. The
parasol is daringly pink in the original, but
entirely suited to the tone of the picture, although
it forms a curious object in the reproduction. The
painter has again introduced a group of statuary
above, and in this a little Cupid seeks to touch
the heart which Venus visibly holds in her hand.
For in the picture the lovers show their hearts
openly to each other, and are happy in their
confidences.

4. IJAmant Couronne forms the final piece of
the group as first expressed by the painter, and re-
presents the crowning of the lovers by wreath and
garland. “ Frago ” himself is seen in the fore-
ground, richly attired and youthfully portrayed.
Fie draws a scene where music and song have
combined with the fragrance and beauty of flowers
and foliage to render everything in happy bar-

156

mony. Even the Cupid above is asleep, for he
knows his work is done, and the lovers are finally
crowned.

5. EAbandon, the fifth of the series, was certainly
painted long after the preceding four, and tradition
is that this and the remaining compositions were
painted by Fragonard after he had conveyed the
first four to his friend’s house at Grasse. The
method of painting is broader in touch and more
masterly in execution ; the colour also is different,
for whereas the first four are painted with brushes
full of variegated colour, this subject is produced
in what is nearly a monotone. Artistically this is
a more acceptable picture than the others because
of its simplicity of composition, its breadth of
execution, and direct charm of subject. Here the
girl lover is abandoned and she finds herself
deserted in the woods where her joy had previously
been complete. In despair she has thrown herself
at the foot of a pillar where her late friend Cupid
has set himself aloft, but with the warning :

Plaisir d’amour ne dure qu'un moment,

Chagrin d’amour dure toute la vie.

The remaining five subjects were all painted by
Fragonard after he had carried the earlier pieces
to his new home in the South, yet the subjects
were not then new to the painter, as in the fateful
year 1789 both E Amour-Folie and EAmour en
Sentitielle were published in Paris as engravings in
colour. These canvases are more suitable to
the present-day decoration of a salon than the five
larger compositions described, which, after all, are
more pictures than decorative works. These later
subjects are all painted in low tone, and I have no
doubt that in Mr. Frick’s new residence they will
be found in every way decoratively successful.

In the sixth of the series, Love attacks the scream-
ing dove. The next, EAmour-Folie, the most
charming of the group, shows Love with a golden
rattle amidst pairs of birds making love. In the
eighth, Cupid pursues the dove with eager eyes
and outspread arms, while the next, the most
exquisite of all, shows Love as a sentinel. The
final picture, Le Tidomphe de F Amour, is the most
dramatic piece, and forms a kind of Heaven and
Hades of the Cupid world. The triumph of Love
is personified by an apotheosis of Cupid sur-
rounded by emblems of music and flowers, with a
pair of loves in the centre embracing each other.
Underneath in the darkness, as it were amidst fire
and mystery, is the Demon of Discord visible with
furious eyes and threatening gesture, an obvious
contrast to the serene high Cupid far above.