Young Woman
Jean-Honoré Fragonardc.1769
Dulwich Picture Gallery
London, United Kingdom
Prominently signed ‘GRIMOU’, this painting was believed to be by the French artist Jean-Alexis Grimou (1678-1733) until closer examination revealed that the painting’s signature was actually an 18th-century forgery. Visible just above and to the left of the Grimou inscription is Fragonard’s genuine signature, ‘Frago.’ The fluid brushwork and thick impasto of the girl’s theatrical ‘Spanish’ costume identifies this work as one of Fragonard’s Figures de Fantaisie, a series of imaginary figures painted to demonstrate his remarkable range of technique. By forging Grimou’s signature, a painter who was himself known as a copyist and extremely popular at the time, Fragonard was not trying to create a forgery but rather a playful tease to challenge the viewer to uncover the true author. The virtuoso handling of the paint is unmistakably that of Fragonard, and more revealing than any signature.
- Title: Young Woman
- Creator Lifespan: 1732 - 1806
- Date: c.1769
- Physical Dimensions: w527 x h629 cm
- Type: Painting
- Medium: Oil
- Work Nationality: French
- Support: Canvas
- Provenance: London, Sir Francis Bourgeois, 1811; Bourgeois Bequest, 1811.
- Further Information: This is one of Fragonard’s famous Figures de Fantaisie (Fantasy Figures), a series of quickly executed studies intended to show off his virtuoso handling of oil paint. The unidentified sitter is portrayed in ‘Spanish’ dress, with a lace collar and slashed sleeves suggesting the dramatic costume of the stage. It was Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) who inspired the depiction of Spanish dress in eighteenth-century French art; similarities can be drawn between this painting and one by Velázquez at the Wallace Collection, The Lady with a Fan (c. 1640). There is a lively tension here between realism and the lush materiality of paint. The delicately painted face dissolves into thick, loose brushstrokes. The painting has remained unlined, which has preserved the bold impasto. Once thought to be by French artist Jean-Alexis Grimou (1678-1733) on the strength of his signature, closer examination revealed that this signature, on the lower right, was false. Fragonard’s genuine signature, Frago, is discernible above, partially obscured by overpainting. It seems that Fragonard was paying a playful homage to a fellow artist, one that was well known in France at the time, particularly as a copyist. Grimou is known to have copied The Infant Christ as the Good Shepherd by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), a similar French copy of which can be seen in Dulwich Picture Gallery’s collection. Most probably, Fragonard’s intent was not to deceive, but rather to titillate connoisseurs with amusing visual ambiguity.
- Artist: Fragonard, Jean-Honoré
- Acquisition Method: Bourgeois, Sir Peter Francis (Bequest, 1811)
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