Who created "The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation"?

The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation was created by Jean Honoré Fragonard in c. 1778.

When was "The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation" created?

This artwork was created c. 1778.

What medium is "The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation"?

The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation is Brush and brown ink and brush and brown wash, with graphite, on ivory laid paper.

The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation

Jean Honoré Fragonard

c. 1778

Medium

Brush and brown ink and brush and brown wash, with graphite, on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

39.9 × 29 cm (15 3/4 × 11 7/16 in.)

Classification

ink or chalk wash

Department

Prints and Drawings

Museum

Art Institute of Chicago

Accession Number

52736

Art Historical Context

Jean Honoré Fragonard a master of the French Rococo style, created *The Letter, or The Conversation* around 177. This delicate drawing on ivory laid paper measures 39.9 × 29 cm and employs brush and brown ink, brown wash, and graphite—a technique that highlights Fragonard's virtuosic command of light and shadow. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints Drawings department, it exemplifies artist's shift toward more intimate, monochromatic works late in his career, as Rococo exuberance gave way to Neoclassicism. Fragonard's Rococo sensibility shines through in the drawing's playful ambig...

About the Artist

Jean Honoré Fragonard · 1732–1806

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. Born in Grasse, he moved to Paris where he trained under Jean-Baptiste Chardin and François Boucher, winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1752. After studying in Italy alongside Hubert Robert, Fragonard returned to Paris in 1761 to fi...

The Letter, or The Spanish Conversation

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