The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 23, 2022

Invocation to Love

c. 1781

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

(French, 1732-1806)

France, 18th century

Brush and brown wash with graphite squaring lines and underdrawing on cream laid paper

Support: Cream(3) laid paper, laid down on board (mount by François Renaud, second half of 18th Century)

Sheet: 33.5 x 41.6 cm (13 3/16 x 16 3/8 in.); Secondary Support: 37.6 x 47.8 cm (14 13/16 x 18 13/16 in.)

Grace Rainey Rogers Fund 1943.657

Catalogue raisonné: Ananoff 2422

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This drawing contains squaring—a grid underlying the image—suggesting it's a smaller drawn replica of a related oil painting.

Description

Fragonard used gardens as the setting for love and courtship in some of his most important works. One such scene, this drawing depicts a woman pleading for help from a statue of Eros, the god of love. He wears a blindfold, suggesting an uncertain outcome for the woman, as does a Cupid who indifferently leans on an orb nearby. Like other artists in 18th-century France, Fragonard was deeply influenced by historic imagery of the Garden of Love—a pastoral and idyllic contained landscape. He revisited the specific image seen here multiple times, in two oil paintings (Musée du Louvre and private collection, New York) and another drawing (Princeton University Art Museum).

Inscriptions

Inscription

secondary support, lower right, in graphite: 62 [L?]3; verso of secondary support, center left, in graphite: Salon

Provenance
?-by 1781
François Renaud [active late 18th-early 19th century; Lugt 1042], Paris 1
?-by 1781
Possibly M. Sireul
1781
(Chez M. Boileau, Paris, Tableaux et dessins précieux qui composent le cabinet de M. de Sireul, December 3, 1781, no. 241, possibly sold to François-Martial Marcille) 2
?-1857
Possibly François-Martial Marcille [1790-1856], Paris
1857
(Paris, M. Marcille sale, March 4-7, 1857, under no. 416, sold to Pierre Désiré Eugène Franc Lamy) 3
1857-about 1922
Pierre Désiré Eugène Franc Lamy [1855-1919; Lugt 949b], Paris 4
about 1922
(Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, sold to Grace Rainey Rogers) 5
1922-1943
Grace Rainey Rogers [1867-1943], New York 6
1943
(Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, Notable...Paintings and Drawings...Property of the Estate of the Late Grace Rainey Rogers, November 18-20, 1943, no. 46, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1943-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Provenance Footnotes

1 The provenance of this work has been confused in the literature because of a similar sheet in the Princeton University Art Museum. Two eighteenth-century sale catalogues could refer to either work: that of M de Sireul (Lugt 3329) and an anonymous catalogue for March 24, 1783 (experts: Le Brun and Boileaux), under no. 39 (according to O'Neill 1981). The Princeton drawing, which measures 35.4 x 46.3 cm, has been connected to the Sireul sheet (recorded as measuring 35.1 x 45.9 cm) as their dimensions correspond fairly closely, but whether the two are the same is difficult to know with absolute certainty. The drawing in the Marcille sale could also have been either sheet. The Princeton drawing is traceable directly back to the Walferdin sale (Ross 1983). Most of the literature on the Cleveland sheet lists the French painter Pierre-Désiré-Eugène Franc Lamy (Lugt 949b) as a previous owner and either states or implies that his mark is present on the sheet's mount (see Grace Rainey Rogers sale, Parke Bernet Galleries, New York, 18-20 November 1943, no. 46; Rotterdam et al. 1958-60; Los Angeles 1961; Ananoff 1961-70; Toronto et al. 1972-73; Providence 1975; Washington et al. 1978-79; Tokyo/Kyoto 1980; Los Angeles et al. 1993-94). His mark is not present, however.
2 As "une jeune fille invoquant l'Amour, au pied de sa Statue; le fond présente une intention de Paysage."
3 As "prière à l'amour et scène de famille 2 dessins lavés au bistre."
4 According to letter from Félix Wildenstein, CMA files.
5 According to letter from Félix Wildenstein, CMA files.
6 According to letter from Félix Wildenstein, CMA files.
Citations
Catalogue des tableaux et dessins précieux qui composent le cabinet de M. de Sireul. Paris: Chez M. Boileau, 1791. Mentioned: no. 241
Portalis, Roger. Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre. Paris: J. Rothschild, 1889. Mentioned: p. 305
Notable French Furniture of the Eighteenth Century, Paintings and Drawings...Property of the Estate of the Late Grace Rainey Rogers. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1943. Mentioned: p. 22; reproduced: plate 46
Francis, Henry S. "A Drawing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard." Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 32, no. 6 (June 1945): 88, 91. Mentioned: p. 88; Reproduced: p. 91
The Eighteenth Century: Art of France and England. Exh. Cat. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1950. Mentioned: p. 15
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 590 archive.org
French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959. (also published in French and Dutch) Mentioned: no. 51; Reproduced: plate 67
Ananoff, Alexandre. L'oeuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806): catalogue raisonné. Paris: F. de Nobele, 1961. Mentioned: vol. 4, p. 154, no. 2422; Reproduced: fig. 612
French Masters: Rococo to Romanticism. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: UCLA Art Galleries, 1961. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 46
Vermeule, Cornelius. European Art and the Classical Past. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1964. Mentioned: pp. 129-130; Reproduced: no. 108
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 141 archive.org
Watrous, James. The Craft of Old-Master Drawings. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967. Mentioned: pp. 80-82; Reproduced: p. 81
The Elsa Durand Mower Collection of French and Italian Drawings. Exh. Cat. Princeton: Art Museum, Princeton University, 1968. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 7
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 141 archive.org
"Fragonard." Praeger Encyclopedia of Art. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1971. Reproduced: p. 703
Rosenberg, Pierre. French Master Drawings of the 17th & 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Translated by Catherine Johnston. Exh. Cat. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1972. Mentioned: no. 50
Rubenism. Exh. Cat. Providence: Bell Gallery, Brown University, 1975. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 56
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 186 archive.org
Williams, Eunice. Drawings by Fragonard in North American Collections. Exh. Cat. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1978. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 50
Leach, Mark Carter. "The Literary and Emblematic Activity of Herman Hugo, S.J. (1588-1629)." PhD diss., University of Delaware, 1979. Mentioned: pp. 215-216, 379; Reproduced: fig. 77
Williams, Eunice. "Rescuing Fragonard from 'a Kind of Limbo.'" Artnews 78, no. 5 (May 1979): 74-78. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 75
Russell, John. "A Fragonard Festival at the Frick." New York Times Magazine (April 15, 1979): 29-31. Reproduced: p. 29
Sutton, Denys. Fragonard. Exh. Cat. Tokyo: National Museum of Western Art, 1980. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 156
Ross, Barbara T. "Notes on Selected French Old Master Drawings from the Permanent Collection." Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 42, no. 1 (1983): 4-42. Mentioned: p. 18
O'Neill, Mary. Les Peintures de l'école française des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans, 1986. Mentioned: p. 63, under no. 55
Rosenberg, Pierre. Fragonard. Exh. Cat. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: no. 282
Cuzin, Jean-Pierre. Jean-Honoré Fragonard: Life and Work, Complete Catalogue of the Oil Paintings. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1988. Reproduced: p. 211
Ashton, Dore. Fragonard in the Universe of Painting. Washington, DC: Smithsonian, 1988. Mentioned: pp. 217-218
Campbell, Richard J. and Victor Carlson. Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawing. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1993, Mentioned and reproduced: no. 22
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000. Mentioned: p. 4, pp. 122-123, no. 47, 289-290; Reproduced: p. 123
De Grazia, Diana. "The Evolution of a Collection: Drawings in Cleveland." Master Drawings 38, no. 3 (Fall 2000). Mentioned: p. 252; Reproduced: fig. 2
Molotiu, Andrei. Fragonard's Allegories of Love. Exh. Cat. Los Angeles: Getty Museum, 2007. Mentioned: pp. 29-37; Reproduced: p. 32
"Consuming Passion: Fragonard's Allegories of Love." Journal of the Print World (Winter 2008): 32. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 32
Dupuy-Vachey, Marie-Anne. "Every Possible Combination: Between Inspiration and Finish in Fragonard's Oeuvre." In Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant: Works from New York Collections. Perrin Stein, et. al., 15-46. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned: p. 34, p. 273 no. 65; Reproduced: p. 36, fig. 32
Exhibition history

The Eighteenth Century: Art of France and England. Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (organizer) (April 27-May 31, 1950).

Department of Prints and Drawings Opening Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 3, 1958-October 11, 1959).

French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (July 31-September 28, 1958); Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, France (October 24, 1958-January 2, 1959); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 3-March 15, 1959).

Italian and French Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 13, 1959-February 2, 1960).

Aspects of Drawing. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (January 10-April 2, 1961).

French Masters: Rococo to Romanticism. Broad Art Center, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (March 5-April 18, 1961).

European Watercolors Through the 18th Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 16-March 22, 1964).

Prints and Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 6-September 9, 1965).

Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 11-October 21, 1968).

French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, Legion of Honor, San Francisco, CA (September 2-October 15, 1972); Art Gallery of Ontario, Ontario M5T 1G4, Canada (organizer) (September 2-October 15, 1972); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ont.,, Canada (November 3-December 17, 1972); The New York Cultural Center, New York, NY (April 4-May 13, 1973).

Rubenism. David Winton Bell Gallery, Providence, RI (January 30-February 23, 1975).

Drawings by Fragonard in North American Collections. Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (November 16, 1978-January 21, 1979); National Gallery of Art, Landover, MD (organizer) (February 15-April 1, 1979); Frick Collection, New York, NY (April 20-June 3, 1979).

フラゴナール展 (Fragonard Exhibition). National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (organizer) (March 18-May 11, 1980); Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan (May 24-June 29, 1980).

18th Century Master Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 6-November 22, 1981).

French Prints and Drawings in the Age of the Bourbons, 1589-1792. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 16, 1982).

Northern European Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 16, 1982-January 9, 1983).

Fragonard. Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 75008 Paris, France (organizer) (September 24, 1987-January 4, 1988); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (February 2-May 8, 1988).

Rococo, Revolution, Restoration. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 11-September 24, 1989).

Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).

Visions of Antiquity: Neoclassical Figure Drawing. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (July 22-September 19, 1993); Philadelphia Museum of Art (October 30, 1993-January 2, 1994); Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN (February 6-April 3, 1994).

French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995).

Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 27-October 17, 2000); The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY (May 23-August 19, 2001); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, TX (October 14, 2001-January 6, 2002).

Consuming Passion: Fragonard's Pictures of Love. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (October 28, 2007-January 21, 2008).

Treasures on Paper from the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (March 9-June 8, 2014).

Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.657