Study for the Pursuit Panel, now in Fragonard Room, Frick Collection, New York

This small work is a study for Fragonard’s painting “The Pursuit,” one of four wall-sized panels that form “The Progress of Love,” now in The Frick Collection, New York. Fragonard was commissioned by Madame DuBarry, Louis XV's mistress to paint four large canvases for the Château de Louveciennes, near Versailles. He was asked to portray the "four ages of love:" The Pursuit, The Meeting, The Lover Crowned, and Love Letters. This series is considered to be one of the greatest decorative ensembles of the eighteenth century and is regarded as the artist's collective masterpiece. Henry Clay Frick purchased the four panels in 1915 from J. Pierpont Morgan. His daughter Helen acquired this preparatory oil sketch in 1922.