The Little Park
c. 1763
Medium
Etching in black on cream laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 11.2 × 16.5 cm (4 7/16 × 6 1/2 in.); Sheet: 13.5 × 18.6 cm (5 3/8 × 7 3/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
129435
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Fragonard spent the summer of 1760 at the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, where he produced several renowned red chalk drawings of the gardens. For over two centuries, it was assumed that The Little Park, one of the artist’s most popular etchings, was part of the Tivoli series, but visitors to the Italian estate could never find the exact vantage point from which he could have drawn the composition. A recent study of Fragonard’s oeuvre revealed that the artist copied, with great accuracy, the two large ...
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...