file which includes the original illustrations4 ,see #dbaah-;h4htm or #dbaah-;h4zip3 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/cache_/epu b_/#dbaah_/pg#dbaah-;images4html7 or 7https3_/_/www4gutenberg4org_/files_/#db aah_/dbaah-;h4zip7 ,images of the original pages are available through ,internet ,archive4 ,see http3_/_/archive4org_/details_/fragonard ocad#jjmacfuoft ,masterpieces in ,colour ,edited by--,t4 ,leman ,hare ,,fragonard 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,,in ,,the ,,same ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,in ,preparation ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,j4 ,f4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,boucher4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,vig,e ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,and ,,others4 99 99 99 99 99 99 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,chiffre ,d',,amour4 ,frontispiece 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,fragonard1 like his master ,boucher1 soon found that the pompous1 historical1 and religious pictures which the critics demanded of him1 pleased no one but the critics4 ,it was a fortunate day for him when he turned his back upon them1 and employed his charming gifts upon the statement of the life of his day4 ,and in few paintings that created his fame has he surpassed the fine handling of this scene1 in which the girl cuts her lover's initials on the trunk of a tree--the dainty figure silhouetted against the dreamlike background of sky and tree that he loved so well4 ,there is over all the glamour of the poetic statement supremely done4 ,fragonard by ,,haldane ,,macfall ,illustrated with ,eight ,reproductions in ,colour ,illustration ,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,jack ,new ,york3 ,frederick ,a4 ,stokes ,co4 ,,to ,,my ,,friend ,,walter ,,emanuel ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,chiffre d',amour ,frontispiece ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,page ,,ii4 ,the ,music ,lesson #ad ,in the ,louvre ,,iii4 ,l',etude #bd ,in the ,louvre ,,iv4 ,the ,schoolmistress #cd ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,v4 ,figure de ,fantasie #dj ,in the ,louvre ,,vi4 ,le ,voeu l',amour #ej ,in the ,louvre 7new acquisition7 ,,vii4 ,the ,fair-haired ,boy #fj ,in the ,wallace ,collection ,,viii4 ,le ,billet ,doux #gj ,in the ,collection of ,m4 ,wildenstein1 ,paris ,illustration ,i ,,the ,,beginnings ,high up1 amongst the ,sea-,alps that stretch along the southern edge of ,france1 where romantic ,provence bathes her sunburnt feet in the blue waters of the ,mediterranean1 high on the mountain's side hangs the steep little town of ,grasse1 embowered midst grey-green olive-trees4 ,in as sombre a narrow street as there is in all her dark alleys1 on the fifth day of ,april in the much bewigged and powdered year of #agcb1 there was born to a glovemaker of the town1 worthy mercer ,fragonard1 a boy-child1 whom the priest in the gloomy church christened ,jean ,honor ,fragonard4 ,as the glovemaker looked out of his sombre house over the sunlit slopes of the grey-green olive-trees that stretched away to the deep blue waters of the sea1 he vowed his child to commerce and a thrifty life in this far-away country place that was but little vexed with the high ambitions of distant1 fickle1 laughing ,paris1 or her splendid scandals2 nay1 scarce gave serious thought to her gadding fashions or her feverish vogues--indeed1 the attenuated ghosts of these once frantic things wriggled southwards through the provinces on but sluggish feet to the high promenades of ,grasse--as the worthy mercer was first in all the little town to know by his modest traffic in them2 and that1 too1 only long after the things they shadowed were buried under new millineries and fopperies and fantastic riot in the gay capital4 ,as a fact1 the dark-eyed1 long-nosed folk that trudged these steep and narrow thoroughfares were a sluggish people2 and sunlit ,grasse snored away its day in drowsy fashion4 ,but if the room where the child first saw the light were gloomy enough within1 the skies were wondrous blue without1 and the violet-scented slopes were robed in a tender garment of silvery green1 decked with the gold of orange-trees1 and enriched with bright embroidery of many-coloured flowers that were gay as the gayest ribbons of distant ,paris4 ,and the glory of it bathed the lad's eyes and heart for sixteen years1 so that his hands got them itching to create the splendour of it which sang within him2 and the wizardry of the flower-garden of ,france never left him1 casting its spell over all his thinking1 and calling to him to utter it to the world4 ,it stole into his colour-box1 and on to his palette1 and so across the canvas into his master-work1 and was to lead him through the years to a blithe immortality4 ,the small boy with the big head was born in the year after ,franois ,boucher came back to ,paris from his ,italian wanderings on the eve of his thirties and won to academic honour4 ,the child grew up in his ,provenal home1 whilst ,boucher1 turning his back upon academic art on gaining his seat at the ,academy1 was creating the ,pastorals1 ,venus-pieces1 and ,cupid-pieces that changed the whole style of ,french art from the pompous and mock-heroic manner of ,louis ,quatorze's century of the sixteen hundreds to the gay and elegant pleasaunces that fitted so aptly the elegant pleasure-seeking days of ,louis the ,fifteenth's seventeen hundreds4 ,gossip of high politics came trickling down to ,grasse as slowly as the fashions1 yet the eleven-year-old boy's ears heard of the death of the minister1 old ,cardinal ,fleury1 and of the effort of ,louis to become king by act4 ,though ,louis had small genius for the mighty business1 and fell thenceforth into the habit of ruling ,france from behind petticoats1 raising the youngest of the daughters of the historic and noble house of ,de ,nesle to be his accepted consort under the rank and honours of ,duchess of ,chateauroux4 ,all tongues tattled of the business1 the very soldiery singing mocking songs2 when--,louis strutting it as conqueror with the army1 got the small-pox at ,metz1 and sent the ,chateauroux packing at the threat of death4 ,he recovered1 to enter ,paris soon after as the ,well-,beloved1 and to be reconciled with the frail ,chateauroux before she died in the sudden agony in which she swore she had been poisoned4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,the ,,music ,,lesson 7,in the ,louvre7 ,fragonard had a profound admiration for the ,dutch painters4 ,whether he went to ,holland shortly after his marriage is not known2 but he seems suddenly to have employed his brush as if he had come across fine examples of the ,dutch school4 ,the ,music ,lesson at the ,louvre is one of these1 and the ,dutch influence is most marked both as to subject1 treatment1 and handling of the paint1 if we allow for ,fragonard's own strongly ,french personality4 ,at thirteen the boy listened to the vague rumours of a new scandal that set folk's tongues wagging again throughout all ,france4 ,the king raised ,madame ,lenormant d',etioles1 a daughter of the rich financier class1 to be ,marquise de ,pompadour1 and yielded up to her the sceptre over his people4 ,the nations1 weary of war1 agreed to sign the ,peace of ,aix-la-,chapelle in #agdh4 ,in this1 our artist's sixteenth year1 the ,pompadour had been the king's acknowledged mistress for three years4 ,from this time1 the peace being signed1 ,louis the ,fifteenth laid aside all effort to fulfil the duties of the lord over a great people2 gave himself up to shameless and riotous living1 and allowed the ,pompadour to usurp the splendour of his throne and to rule over the land4 ,for the next sixteen years she was the most powerful person at court1 the greatest personality in the ,state--making and unmaking ministers like a sovereign1 and disposing of high offices1 honours1 titles1 and pensions4 ,the king squandered upon her some seventy odd millions of the public money as money is now valued4 ,her energy and her industry must have been colossal4 ,her intelligence saved the king from the boredom of decision in difficult affairs4 ,she made herself a necessity to his freedom from care4 ,every affair of ,state was discussed and settled under her guidance4 ,ministers1 ambassadors1 generals1 transacted their business in her handsome boudoirs4 ,she dispensed the whole patronage of the sovereign with her pretty hands4 ,the prizes of the army1 of the church1 of the magistracy1 could only be secured through her good-will4 ,as though these things were not load enough to bow the shoulders of any one human being she kept a rein upon every national activity4 ,she created the porcelain factory of ,svres1 thereby adding a lucrative industry to ,france4 ,she founded the great military school of ,saint ,cyr4 ,she mothered every industry4 ,she was possessed of a rare combination of talents and accomplishments1 and of astounding taste4 ,but her deepest affection was for the arts4 ,the ,pompadour had gathered about her1 as the beautiful ,madame d',etioles1 the supreme wits and artists and thinkers of her day2 ,voltaire and ,boucher and ,latour and the rest were her friends1 and the new thought that was being born in ,france was nursed in her drawing-rooms4 ,as the ,pompadour she kept up her friendships4 ,she was prodigal in her encouragement of the arts1 in the furnishment of her own and the king's palaces and castles4 ,and it was in the exercise and indulgence of her better qualities that she brought out the genius and encouraged to fullest achievement the art of ,boucher1 and of the great painters of her time4 ,so ,boucher brought to its full blossom the art that ,watteau had created--the picture of ,ftes galents--and added to the artistic achievement of ,france the ,pastorals wherein ,dresden shepherds and shepherdesses dally in pleasant landscapes1 and the ,venus-pieces wherein ,cupids flutter and romp--a world of elegance and charm presided over by the ,goddess of ,love4 ,,ii ,,rome ,all this was but ,paris-gossip amidst the olive-trees and steep streets of far-away ,grasse1 where the large-headed1 small-bodied lad was idling through his fifteen summers1 living and breathing the beauty of the pleasant land of romance that bred him1 when1 like bolt from the blue1 fell the news upon him that his father1 tearing aside the fabric of the lad's dreams1 had articled him as junior clerk to a notary4 ,but the ,french middle-class ideal of respectability meant no heaven for this youth's goal1 no ultimate aim for his ambition4 ,he idled his master into despair2 wasting his time on paint-pots and pencil-scribblings until that honest man himself advised that the lad should be allowed to follow his bent4 ,so it came about--'twas in that year of the ,treaty of ,aix-la-,chapelle1 the year that saw the ,pompadour come to supreme power 7she had been for three years the king's acknowledged mistress7--the youth's mother1 with all a ,french mother's shrewdness and common-sense1 gathered together the sixteen-year-old lad's sketches1 and bundled off with him in a diligence to ,paris4 ,arrived in ,paris she sought out the greatest painter of the day1 and burst with the shy youth into the studio of the dandified favourite artist of the king's majesty1 ,pompadour's ,boucher--large-hearted1 generous1 much-sinning1 world-famed ,boucher1 then at the very summit of his career--he was at that time living in the ,rue ,grenelle-,saint-,honor1 which he was about to leave1 and in which ,fragonard in his old age was destined to end his days4 ,the lad glanced with wonder1 we may be sure1 at the great ,rape of ,europa that stood upon the master's easel1 whilst his mother poured out in the rough accent of ,provence the tale of the genius of her son--stole1 too1 a stealthy scrutiny of the ,venus-pieces and ,pastorals that stood about the studio1 and was filled with awed admiration4 ,the mother besought the genius of ,france to make a genius of her son2 and ,boucher1 with kindly smile upon his lips1 glancing over the immature work of the prodigy1 told the lad that he might come back to him in six months' time1 pointing out to him1 with all that large-hearted friendliness and sympathy that made him the loved idol of the art-students1 that he lacked sufficient dexterity in the use of his tools to enter his studio or to benefit by apprenticeship to him1 and advising the anxious mother to take him to ,chardin as the supreme master in ,france from whom to learn the mastery of his craft4 ,to ,chardin the youth went2 and ,france's consummate master in the painting of still-life1 putting the palette on the youngster's thumb straightway1 from the very first day--as his custom was--and making him use sienna upon it as his only pigment1 advising him as he went1 set him to the copying of the prints from the masterpieces of his own time1 insisting on his painting large and broad and solid and true4 ,young ,fragonard made so little progress that ,chardin wrote to his parents that he could get nothing out of him2 and sent the lad1 bag and baggage1 out of his studio4 ,thrown upon his own resources1 the young fellow haunted the churches of ,paris1 brooded over the masterpieces that hung therein1 fixed them in his mind's eye1 and1 returning to his lodging1 painted them1 day by day1 from memory4 ,at the end of six months he called again upon ,boucher1 his sketches under his arm2 and this time he was not sent away4 ,astounded at the youth's progress1 struck by his enthusiasm1 ,boucher took him into his studio1 and set him to work to prepare the large decorative cartoons that artists had to make from their paintings for use at the ,gobelins and ,beauvais looms4 ,the artist painted his picture in little2 he was also required to paint an enlargement of the size that the weavers had to make into tapestry--this enlargement was mostly done by pupils1 the ,state demanding1 however1 that the artist should work over it sufficiently to sign his name upon it--the head of the factory keeping custody of the painting in little to guide him2 the weavers working from the enlargement4 ,this work upon the enlargement of ,boucher's paintings was an ideal training for ,fragonard4 ,the ,director-,general of ,buildings to the king 7or1 as we should nowadays call him1 ,minister of ,fine ,arts71 ,lenormant de ,tournehem1 kinsman to the ,pompadour1 died suddenly in the ,november of #agea2 the ,pompadour promptly caused to be appointed in his place her brother ,abel ,poisson de ,vandires--a shy1 handsome youth1 a gentleman1 a man of honour1 who brought to his office an exquisite taste1 a loyal nature1 and marked abilities4 ,the king1 who liked him well1 and called him little brother1 soon afterwards created him ,marquis de ,marigny--and ,fragonard1 like many another artist of his day1 was to be beholden to him4 ,after a couple of years' training under ,boucher1 ,fragonard's master1 with that keen interest that he ever took in the efforts and welfare of youth1 and particularly of his own pupils1 urged the young fellow to compete for the ,prix de ,rome1 pointing out to him the advantages of winning it4 ,at twenty1 without preparation1 and without being a pupil of the ,academy1 ,fragonard won the coveted prize with his ,jeroboam ,sacrificing to ,idols4 ,it was in this year that ,boucher was given a studio and apartments at the ,louvre4 ,for three years thereafter1 ,fragonard was in the king's school of six lves protgs under ,carle ,van ,loo4 ,he continued to work in ,boucher's studio1 as well as painting on his own account2 and it is to these years that belong his ,blind ,man's ,buff and several pictures in this style4 ,meanwhile the quarrels between priests and parliaments had grown very bitter4 ,the king took first one side1 then the other4 ,it was in #agef1 ,louis having got foul of his ,parliament1 that the unfortunate and foolish ,damiens stabbed the king with a penknife slightly under the fifth rib of his left side1 as he was stepping into his carriage at ,versailles1 and suffered by consequence the terrible tortures and horrible death that were meted out to such as attempted the part of regicide4 ,this was the year when1 at twenty-four1 ,fragonard was entitled to go to ,rome at the king's expense--the ,italian tour being a necessary part of an artist's training who desired to reach to academic distinction1 and honours in his calling4 ,he started on his journey to ,italy with ,boucher's now famous farewell advice ringing in his ears3 ,my dear ,frago1 you go into ,italy to see the works of ,raphael and ,michael ,angelo2 but--,i tell you in confidence1 as a friend--if you take those fellows seriously you are lost4 7,lost was not the exact phrase1 ,boucher being a ,rabelaisian wag1 but it will pass47 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,l',,etude 7,in the ,louvre7 ,the picture of a young woman sometimes known as ,l',etude 7but perhaps better known as ,la ,chanteuse or ,song7 at the ,louvre is another of those little canvases painted by ,fragonard under the strong influence of the ,dutch school1 as we may see not only in the handling of the paint1 and in the arrangement of the figure1 but in the very ruffle about the girl's neck1 the lace cuffs to the sleeves1 and the treatment of the dress4 ,arrived in ,rome1 ,fragonard1 like his master before him1 was torn with doubts and uncertainties and warring influences4 ,for several months he did no work1 or little work2 and though he stood before the masterpieces of ,michael ,angelo and ,raphael1 stirred by the grandeur of their design1 and eager to be busy with his brush1 he was too much of a ,frenchman1 too much in sympathy with the ,french genius1 too much enamoured of the art of his master1 to be affected creatively by them4 ,his hesitations saved him1 and won ,france a master in her long roll of fame4 ,he escaped the taint of learning to see through the eyes of others1 evaded the swamping of his own genius in an endeavour to utter his art in halting ,italian4 ,rome was not his grave1 as it has been the grave of so many promising young sons of ,france2 and he came out of the danger a strong and healthy man4 ,tiepolo brought him back vision and inspiration1 and the solid earth of his own age to walk upon4 ,and the ,french utterance of his master ,boucher called back his dazed wits to the accents of ,france4 ,at last the genius that was in him quickened and strove to utter itself4 ,the bright colours of ,italy1 the glamour of her landscapes1 these were the living lessons that bit deeper into his art than all the works of her antique masters2 and the effort to set them upon his canvas gave to his hand's skill an ordered grace and dignity that were of more vital effect upon his achievement than the paintings of the great dead4 ,so it came about that ,natoire1 then director of the royal school in the ,villa ,mancini1 having written his distress to ,marigny at the young fellow's beginnings1 was soon writing enthusiastically about him1 and procured a lengthening of his stay in ,rome4 ,here began that lifelong friendship with ,hubert ,robert1 already making his mark as an artist1 and with the ,abb de ,saint-,non1 a charming character1 who was to engrave the work of the two young painters1 and greatly spread their names abroad thereby4 ,saint-,non's influential relations procured him free residence in the ,villa d',este1 where the other two joined him1 and a delightful good-fellowship between the three men followed--the ,abb's artistic tastes adding to the bond of comradeship4 ,so two years passed pleasantly along at the ,villa d',este1 one of the most beautiful places in all ,italy--the ancient ruins hard by1 and the running waters and majestic trees leaving an impression upon ,fragonard's imagination1 which passed to his canvases1 and never left his art--developing a profound sense of style1 and a knowledge of light and air that bathed the scenes he was to paint with such rare skill and insight4 ,here grew that love of stately gardens which are the essence of his landscapes1 and which won to the heart of a child of ,provence4 ,in distant ,paris the making of history was growing apace4 ,gossip of it reached to ,italy4 ,a backstairs intrigue almost dislodged the ,pompadour from power4 ,d',argenson and the queen's party threw the beautiful and youthful ,madame de ,choiseul-,romanet1 not wholly unflattered at the adventure1 into the king's way to lure him from the favourite4 ,the king wrote her a letter of invitation4 ,the girl consulted her noble kinsman1 the ,comte de ,stainville1 of the ,maurepas faction or queen's party1 a bitter enemy to the ,pompadour4 ,de ,stainville1 his pride of race wounded that a kinswoman of his should be offered to the king1 went to the ,pompadour1 exposed the plot1 and forthwith became her ally--soon her guide in affairs of ,state4 ,in the midst of disasters by sea and land the ,pompadour persuaded the king to send for ,de ,stainville1 and to make him his ,prime ,minister4 ,he was created ,duc de ,choiseul in ,december #ageh4 ,he had as ally one of the most astute and subtle and daring minds in eighteenth-century ,france--his sister ,beatrice1 the famous ,duchesse de ,grammont4 ,the king found a born leader of men4 ,choiseul brought back dignity to the throne4 ,he came near to saving ,france4 ,choiseul was the public opinion of the nation4 ,he founded his strength on ,parliament and on the new philosophy4 ,he became a national hero4 ,he could do no wrong4 ,he rose to power in #ageh2 and at once stemmed the tide of disaster to ,france4 ,the ,parliament men took courage4 ,philosophy1 with one of its men in power1 spoke out with no uncertain voice4 ,all ,france was listening4 ,fragonard had at last to turn his face homewards2 and dawdling through ,italy with ,saint-,non1 staying his feet at ,bologna and ,venice awhile1 the two friends worked slowly towards ,paris1 ,fragonard entering his beloved city1 after five wander-years1 in the autumn of #agfa1 in his twenty-ninth year1 untainted and unspoiled by academic training1 his art founded upon that of ,boucher1 enhanced by his keen study of nature4 ,he reached ,paris1 rich in plans for pictures1 filled with ardour and enthusiasm for his art1 ambitious to create masterpieces1 and burning to distinguish himself4 ,,iii ,,the ,,du ,,barry ,when ,fragonard came back to ,paris on the edge of his thirtieth year it was to find that a great change had come over his master ,boucher4 ,the old1 light-hearted1 genial painter was showing signs of the burning of the candle of life at both ends4 ,his art also was being bitterly assailed by the new critics--the new philosophy was asking for ennobling sentiments from the painted canvas1 and the teaching of a moral lesson from all the arts4 ,boucher stood frankly bewildered1 blinking questioning eyes at the frantic din4 ,old age had come upon him1 creeping over the shrewd kindly features1 dulling the exquisite sight4 ,he could not wholly ignore the change that was taking place in public taste4 ,the ideas of the philosophers were penetrating public opinion4 ,the man of feeling had arisen and walked in the land4 ,they were beginning to speak of the great antique days of ,greece and ,rome4 ,fickle fashion was about to turn her back upon ,dresden shepherds and shepherdesses and leafy groves1 and to take up her abode awhile with heroes and amongst picturesque ruins4 ,arrived in ,paris1 ,fragonard at once set himself to the task of painting the historic or mythologic ,academy-piece expected from the holder of the ,prix de ,rome on return from the ,italian tour4 ,he painted ,the ,high ,priest ,coresus slaying himself to save ,callirho1 which1 though badly hung at the ,salon1 and still to be seen at the ,louvre1 was hailed with high praise by the academicians and critics4 ,the only adverse criticisms of coldness and timidity levelled against it sound strange in the light of his after-career1 which1 whatever its weaknesses1 was not exactly marked with coldness nor eke with timidity4 ,for two years thereafter he essayed the academic style4 ,but the praises of ,diderot and ,grimm failed to fill his pockets2 and he decided to paint no more academic pieces for the critics' praise4 ,he had indeed no taste for such things1 no sympathy with ancient thought nor with the dead past4 ,he was1 like his master1 a very son of ,france--a child of his own age1 glorying in the love of life and the beauty of his native land4 ,having done his duty by his school1 he turned his back upon it gleefully1 as ,boucher had also done before him1 and set himself joyously to the painting of the life about him4 ,his great chance soon came1 and in strange guise4 ,it so happened that a young blood at the court1 one ,baron de ,saint-,julien1 went to the painter ,doyen with his flame1 and asked him to paint a picture of the pretty creature being swung by a bishop whilst he himself watched the display of pretty ankles as the girl went flying through the air4 ,doyen had scruples2 but recommended ,fragonard for the naughty business4 ,fragonard seized the idea readily enough1 except that he made the frail girl's husband swing the beauty for her lover's eyes1 using the incident1 as usual1 but as the trivial theme for a splendid setting amidst trees1 glorying in the painting of the foliage--as you may see1 if you step into the ,wallace galleries1 where is the exquisite thing that brought ,fragonard fame--the world-famous ,les hazards heureux de l',escarpolette4 ,the effect was prodigious4 ,de ,launay's brilliant engraving of it popularised it throughout the land4 ,nobles and rich financiers1 and all the gay world of fashion besides1 now strove to possess canvases signed by ,fragonard4 ,boucher was grown old and ailing2 and just as ,boucher had been the painter of the ,france of fashion under the ,pompadour1 so ,fragonard was now to become the mirror of the court1 of the theatre1 of the drawing-room1 of the boudoir1 of the age of ,du ,barry4 ,finding a ready market for subjects of gallantry1 he gave rein to his natural bent1 and straightway leaped into the vogue4 ,pictures were the hobby of the nobility and the rich2 and ,france under the ,pompadour1 and particularly at this the end of her reign1 was madly spendthrift upon its hobbies and fickle fancies4 ,the pretty house1 delicately tinted rooms1 fine furniture1 dainty decorations1 and charming pictures1 were a necessity for such as would be in the fashion4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,the ,,schoolmistress 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,after his marriage ,fragonard's brush turned to the glorification of family life2 and one of the most beautiful designs he conceived in this exquisite series was the picture of the schoolmistress and her small pupils--here chasteness of feeling has taken the place of levity2 and purity of statement is evidenced even in the half-nude little fellow who is receiving his first lesson in culture4 ,you shall look in vain for the affected innocence1 the nave mawkishness1 the chaste sentimentality of ,greuze in the master-work of ,fragonard4 ,he knew nothing of these things--cared less4 ,his was an ardent brush2 and he used it ardently2 but always you shall find him using his subject1 however naughty1 as the mere excuse for a glorious picture of trees4 ,he is one of the great landscape-painters of ,france4 ,he had many qualities that go to make a decorative painter4 ,indeed1 it is to the ,frenchmen of the seventeen-hundreds to whom we may safely go for pictures that make the walls of a drawing-room a delight4 ,unlike the ,italians1 they are pleasing to live with4 ,his painting of ,la ,fte de ,st4 ,cloud1 in the dining-room of the ,governor of the ,bank of ,france1 is one of the decorative landscapes of the world4 ,he was now producing works in considerable numbers--it is his first1 his detailed period1 somewhat severe in arrangement and style as to composition and handling--the years of ,love the ,conqueror1 the ,bolt1 the ,fountain of ,love1 of ,le ,serment d',amour1 the ,gimblette1 ,les ,baigneuses1 the ,sleeping ,bacchante1 the ,dbut du modle1 and the like4 ,his master1 ,boucher1 was grown old2 he could not carry out the commissions for the decoration of rooms and for paintings with which he was overwhelmed2 and it was in order to help forward his brilliant pupil1 his ,frago1 that he now introduced him to his old friend and patron the farmer-general ,bergeret de ,grandcour--a man of great wealth1 a lover of art1 and an honorary member of the ,royal ,academy--who became one of ,fragonard's most lavish patrons and most intimate friends4 ,bergeret de ,grandcour commissioned several panels in this1 ,fragonard's thirty-fifth year--the year of his painting the superb ,fte de ,st4 ,cloud4 ,this is towards the end of that period of minute and detailed painting which he did with such consummate skill1 yet without bringing pettiness into his largeness of conception4 ,meantime1 ,choiseul's masterly mind1 having secured peace abroad1 saw that ,france1 if she were to keep her sovereign ,state1 must be first cleansed from the dangers that threatened from within4 ,he turned to the blotting out of the turbulent order of the ,jesuits1 whose vindictive acts against1 and quarrels with1 the ,parliaments1 and whose galling and oppressive tyranny1 had roused the bitter hatred of the magistracy and of the people throughout the land4 ,choiseul they treated as their bitterest enemy4 ,he decided to blot them out1 root and branch1 from ,france4 ,the popular party closed up its ranks4 ,choiseul had not long to wait4 ,the chance came in odd fashion enough4 ,an attempt by the ,order to end the ,pompadour's scandalous relations with the king was the quaint thing--the match that started the explosion4 ,with all his skill of state-craft1 ,choiseul leaped to the weapon4 ,in secret concert with the king's powerful favourite he struck at them through the bankruptcy of their banking concerns in the ,west ,indies1 caused by their losses in the wars with ,england2 and ,louis abolished the society out of the land1 secularising its members1 and seizing its property4 ,the ,pompadour lived but a short while to enjoy her triumph4 ,worn-out by her vast activities1 and assailed by debt1 she fell ill of a cough that racked her shrunken body4 ,she died1 transacting the king's business and affairs of ,state1 on the #aeth of ,april #agfd1 in her forty-second year4 ,whatever may be said of this cold-blooded1 calculating1 grasping woman1 who crushed down every nice instinct of womanhood to win a king's favour1 who knew no scruple1 who was without mercy1 without pardon or forgiveness1 without remorse2 bitter and adamant in revenge2 who turned a deaf ear to the cries from the ,bastille2 whose heart knew no love but for self2 it must be allowed that at least for ,art she did great and splendid service4 ,she not only encouraged and brought out the best achievement of her age2 she did ,art an even more handsome benefit4 ,she insisted on artists painting their age and not aping the dead past4 ,to ,fragonard personally she rendered no particular service4 ,his real achievement began on the eve of her death1 when she was a worn-out and broken woman4 ,nor had ,fragonard ever that close touch with the royal house or its favourites during any part of his lifetime that meant so much to the fortunes of his master1 ,boucher4 ,there were two patrons for whom ,fragonard was about to create a series of masterpieces in the decoration of their splendid and luxurious homes--works of ,art which were to have strange adventures and histories4 ,they were both women4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,figure ,,de ,,fantasie 7,in the ,louvre7 ,here we have one of the rare examples of ,fragonard's painting of a man's portrait4 ,it is in strange contrast to his more delicate handling of domestic subjects4 ,for the prodigal and eccentric dancer1 the notorious ,mademoiselle ,guimard1 he undertook the painting of a series of panels4 ,the ,guimard was the rage of ,paris--she of the orgic suppers and the naughty dances with her comrade ,vestris4 ,frago1 who is said to have been more than a friend of the reckless one of the nimble feet1 undertook the decoration of her house in the ,chausse d',antin1 known to the bloods as the ,temple of ,terpsichore4 ,he painted for the same room a portrait of the frail beauty as an opera-shepherdess--the simple pastoral life was the pose of this unsimple age4 ,he was engaged upon the business1 off and on1 for several years2 and the many delays at last fretted the light one4 ,fragonard1 anything but energetic1 liked always to take his own time at his work4 ,the ,guimard got to pestering him--she had a sharp tongue--and at last1 one fine day1 upbraided him roundly1 taunting him with a sneer that he would never get the work finished4 ,fragonard lost patience and temper1 goaded by her ill-manners1 her abuse1 and her biting tongue4 ,it is finished1 said he2 and walked out of the house4 ,the ,guimard could never get him back2 but one day he slipped in alone1 painted the set dancer's-smile from the dancer's mouth1 and placed there instead a snarl upon her lips4 ,before this breach between them ,fragonard had painted several portraits of the ,guimard4 ,however1 the work for the lady was to have far-reaching results little dreamed of4 ,for the completion of the room1 ,fragonard procured the commission for ,david1 then twenty-five2 and ,david never forgot the service rendered4 ,he was to repay it tenfold when black days threatened2 and with rare courage1 when even the courage of gratitude was a deadly dangerous commodity4 ,however1 this was not as yet2 the sun shone in the skies2 and all was gaiety and laughter still4 ,the ,chiffre d',amour1 the picture of a pretty girl who cuts her lover's monogram in the bark of a tree's trunk1 the shadowed tree and figure telling darkly against the glamorous half light beyond1 was one of ,fragonard's happiest inspirations of these years1 as any one may see who steps into the ,wallace galleries4 ,here also may be seen to-day the exquisite ,fair-haired ,boy4 ,the boldly painted ,l',heure de ,berger was wet upon the canvas about this year1 though its boldness of handling foretells his later manner1 whilst the spirit of ,boucher is over all4 ,four years after the death of the ,pompadour the patient neglected queen1 amiable dull ,marie ,leczinska1 followed her supplanter to the grave4 ,the king's grief and contrition and his solemn vows to mend his ways came somewhat over-late2 they lasted little longer than the drying of his floods of tears over the body of his dead consort4 ,on the ,eve of ,candlemas1 the first day of ,february #agfi1 at a convivial party in ,paris that was not wholly without political significance1 a ,jesuit priest raised his glass ,to the ,presentation6 adding after the toast--,to that which has taken place to-day1 or will take place to-morrow1 the presentation of the new ,esther1 who is to replace ,haman and release the ,jewish nation from oppression6 ,he spoke figuratively--it was safer so4 ,but 'twas understood4 ,indeed1 the pretty sentiment was well received by the old aristocrats and young bloods about the table2 and they drank a bumper to the pretty ,madame du ,barry4 ,for the ,jesuits had no love for the king's minister ,choiseul--and the madcap girl was but the lure whereby the king was to be drawn from his great minister4 ,so religion rallied about the frail beauty1 and hid behind her extravagant skirts--one of which cost close on #bjjj--;and1 with the old nobility1 drank damnation to the king's minister and ,to the devil with the new thought and with parliaments4 ,long live the king and the divine right of kings6 ,our worthy priest seems to have had the ear of destiny1 though he dated his certainty near upon a couple of months too soon4 ,so it came about that before a year was out the old king was become the doting creature of a light-o'-love of ,paris1 the transfigured milliner and street-pedlar1 ,jeanne1 natural child of one ,anne ,bqus1 a low woman of ,vaucouleurs4 ,this ,jeanne1 of no surname and unknown father1 a pretty1 kindly1 vulgar child of the gutters1 with fair hair and of madcap habits1 was some twenty-six years of age1 when--being reborn under a forged birth-certificate at the king's ordering1 as ,anne de ,vaubernier1 and being married by the same orders to the ,count du ,barry1 an obliging nobleman of the court--she appeared at ,versailles as the immortally frail ,countess du ,barry4 ,the remonstrances of ,choiseul with the king against this new degradation of the throne of ,france1 and his unconcealed scorn and disgust of the upstart countess1 made a dangerous enemy for ,france's great minister1 and was to cost him and his ,france very dear4 ,the king's infatuation brought royalty into utter contempt amongst the people4 ,it was to cost ,france a terrible price--and ,fragonard not least of all4 ,one of the first gifts from the king to the ,du ,barry was the little castle of ,louveciennes2 and she proceeded with reckless extravagance to furnish her handsome home4 ,drouais1 the artist1 sold to her for #abjj livres 7double florins71 as overdoors for one of the rooms1 four panels that he had bought from ,fragonard4 ,they have vanished2 but they served ,fragonard a good turn--he received an order to decorate ,du ,barry's luxurious pavilion of ,luciennes1 which she had had built to entertain the king at her little suppers4 ,thus it chanced that for this wilful light-o'-love ,fragonard painted the great master-work of his life--the five world-famous canvases of the series of ,the ,progress of ,love in the ,heart of ,maidenhood1 or1 as they are better known1 ,the ,romance of ,love and ,youth--the old king masquerading therein as a young shepherd1 and the ,du ,barry as a shepherdess4 ,in ,the ,ladder 7,l',escalade or ,le ,rendezvous7 the ,du ,barry plays the part of a timid young girl who starts as she sees her shepherd-lover to be the king2 the ,pursuit follows2 then the ,souvenirs and ,love ,crowned4 ,the last of the five1 the discarded mistress in ,deserted1 was only begun2 and was not completed by ,fragonard until twenty years later at ,grasse1 to complete the set4 ,what it was that struck a chill into the frail ,du ,barry's favour1 so that the masterpieces of ,fragonard never entered within her doors1 is not fully known4 ,whatsoever the cause1 these canvases were rejected by her4 ,it is said that the work was found to be disappointing1 being lacking as to the indecencies by the ,du ,barry and the king1 who preferred the more suggestive panels of ,vien4 ,it is true that ,fragonard's earlier four panels which she possessed were in questionable taste1 and that these five were pure2 indeed1 their trivial story matters little amidst the massy foliage and the majestic trees that spring into the swinging heavens4 ,fragonard suspected1 and somewhat resented the suspicion1 that he was being made to paint in a sort of artistic duel with ,vien4 ,at any rate1 ,vien was chosen4 ,so it came that the discarded pictures lay in ,fragonard's studio for over twenty years1 when we shall see them1 rolled up1 making a chief part of the strange baggage of ,fragonard's flight from his beloved ,paris4 ,the fact was that the ,du ,barry was of the gutter4 ,she had the crude love of fineries of the girl promoted from the gutter4 ,she loved display4 ,but into her home she brought the vulgar singers of the lowest theatres1 where the ,pompadour had brought the wits and leading artists of her time4 ,the old culture was gone4 ,louis laughed now at ribald songs1 and was entertained by clowns4 ,it is part of the irony of life that ,fragonard1 who never entered into the favourite's friendship1 should have become the recognised artist of her day4 ,it was a part of that grim irony that caused the ,du ,barry1 whose age he honours1 to reject the most exquisite work of his hands--in which his art is seen at its highest achievement1 the tender half-melancholy of the thing stated with a lyric beauty that displays his genius in its supreme flight4 ,a search through the ,du ,barry's bills--and there are four huge bound volumes of them--reveals the list of pictures painted by ,boucher1 by ,vien1 by ,greuze1 and by others1 for the spendthrift woman2 but of transaction with ,fragonard there is no slightest hint4 ,,iv ,,marriage ,there lived in ,grasse1 with its rich harvests of flowers1 and given to the distilling of perfumes therefrom1 a family that had come from ,avignon--its name1 ,grard1 and on friendly terms with the ,fragonards4 ,it so chanced that a young woman of the family1 the seventeen-year-old ,marie ,anne ,grard1 was sent to ,paris1 to the care of ,fragonard1 in order to earn her living in the shop of a scent-seller1 one ,isnard4 ,the girl had artistic leanings1 and fell a-painting of fans and miniatures4 ,she had need of a teacher2 and who better qualified for the business than her townsman1 the famous ,fragonard8 ,what more natural than that ,fragonard should become her master8 ,she was a jovial girl4 ,so they would talk of home1 and the people amongst whom they had been bred4 ,she was no particular beauty1 as her picture by ,fragonard proves2 she had the rough accent of ,provence2 was thick-set and clumsy of figure1 and of heavy features1 but she had the youth and freshness and health of a young woman's teens1 that hide the blemishes and full significance of these coarsenesses4 ,she and ,fragonard fell a-kissing4 ,fragonard1 now thirty-seven1 married ,marie ,anne ,grard in her eighteenth year2 and she bore him a much loved daughter1 ,rosalie--and ten years later1 in #aghj1 a son1 ,alexandre ,evariste ,fragonard4 ,there came to live with the newly married couple his wife's younger sister ,marguerite and her young brother ,henri ,grard1 who was learning engraving4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,le ,,voeu ,l',,amour 7,in the ,louvre7 ,this is an example of ,fragonard in his grand-manner mood--a picture of the large decorative years that produced such masterpieces as the ,serment d',amour1 in which we see him ever interested above all things in the painting of bosky leafage and the dignity of great trees for background4 ,fragonard's marriage at once affected his habits and his art4 ,the wild oats of his artistic career were near sown4 ,the naughtinesses of girls of pleasure gave place to the grace and tenderness of the home-life--the cradle took the place of the bed of light adventures2 and children blossomed on to his canvases4 ,he set aside the make-believe shepherds and shepherdesses of the vogue2 and henceforth painted the real thing in rural surroundings4 ,he brought to his homeliest pictures a beauty of arrangement1 a sense of style1 and a dignity worthy of the most majestic subjects4 ,he came at this time under the influence of the ,dutch landscapists1 and stole from them the solidity of their massing in foliage1 the truth of their character-drawing1 the close observation of their cattle and animal-life1 their cloudy skies1 and the finish and force of their craftsmanship4 ,whether he went into ,holland is disputed4 ,he was too keen an artist1 his was too original a genius1 to imitate their style or take on their ,dutch accent4 ,he simply took from them such part of their craftsmanship as could enter into the facile gracious genius of ,france without clogging its grace4 ,he is now content with his house and garden for scenery1 with his family for models4 ,he realises that an artist has no need to go abroad to find paintable things4 ,the ,heureuse ,fcondit1 the ,visit to the ,nurse 7the second one71 the ,schoolmistress1 the ,good ,mother1 the ,retour au logis1 the ,l',education fait tout1 the ,dites donc1 si'l vous plat1 are of this period4 ,in all he did he proves himself an artist1 incapable of mediocrity1 bringing distinction and style to all that he touches4 ,fragonard also excelled in the painting of miniatures4 ,and there are small portraits under fancy names to be seen at the ,louvre1 painted with a breadth and force that prove him to have known the work of ,franz ,hals4 ,the figure of a man1 known as ,figure de ,fantaisie or ,inspiration1 is stated with a directness and vividness worthy of the great ,dutch master4 ,indeed1 there is much in the direct handling of the paint and the life of the thing that recalls ,franz ,hals--the very arrangement of the dress and the treatment of the hand being a careless attempt to recall the habits and fashions of the ,dutchman4 ,la ,musique repeats the impression4 ,and even the more pronouncedly ,french style of the pretty woman in ,la ,chanteuse does not disguise the inspiration of ,franz ,hals in the painting of the bodice1 the cuffs1 and the details--the high ruffle is dragged in from ,hals's day4 ,the ,music ,lesson at the ,louvre was painted about the same time4 ,fragonard's old master1 ,boucher1 for some time had been going about like a shadow of himself4 ,the year after ,fragonard's marriage the old painter was found dead1 sitting at his easel before an unfinished picture of ,venus1 the brush fallen out of his fingers--the light of the ,glory of ,paris gone out4 ,boucher died a few months before that ,christmas ,eve of #aggj that saw ,choiseul driven from power by the trio of knaves who used the vulgar but kindly woman ,du ,barry as their tool--indeed she refused to pull the great minister down until she had made handsome terms on his behalf2 ,choiseul was too astute a man not to recognise what lay beyond the shadow of her pretty skirts--nay1 does he not turn in the courtyard as he leaves the palace to go into banishment1 his lettre de cachet in his pocket1 and1 seeing a woman looking out from a window at the end of an alley1 bow and kiss his hand to the window where gazes out of tear-filled eyes this strange doomed beauty who has won to the sceptre of ,france8 ',twas four years before the small-pox took the king--four years during which this same ,du ,barry1 with her precious trio1 d',aiguillon1 ,maupeou1 and ,terray1 sent the members of ,parliament into banishment--years that launched royal ,france on its downward rushing1 with laughter and riot1 to its doom1 whilst the apathetic ,louis shrugged his now gross royal shoulders at all warnings of catastrophe1 which to give him due credit1 he was scarce witless enough or blind enough not to foresee4 ,nay1 did he not even admit it in his constantly affirmed1 if cynical1 creed that things1 as they were1 would last as long as he2 and he that came after him must shift for himself8 ,ay2 he came even nearer to the kernel of the significance of things1 when1 shrugging his no longer well-beloved shoulders1 as the ,pompadour had done1 he repeated her cynical saying of ,aprs nous le dluge4 ,it was to be a deluge indeed--scarlet red4 ,wit and ruthless fatuity were the order of the day2 these folk were wondrous full of the neatly turned phrase and the polished epigram4 ,most fatuous of them all1 and as ruthless as any1 was ,terray--he who tinkered with finance1 with crown to his many infamies the scandalous ,pacte de ,famille1 that mercantile company that was to produce an artificial rise in the price of corn by buying up the grain of ,france1 exporting it1 and bringing it back for sale at vast profit--with ,louis of ,france as considerable shareholder4 ,had not the owners of the land the right to do what they would with their own8 ',twas small wonder that the well-beloved became the highly-detested of the groaning people--he and his precious privileged class4 ,yet ,louis of ,france spake prophecy--if unwitting of it4 ,the guillotine was not to have him4 ,in #aggd he was stricken down with the small-pox1 and the sick-room in the palace saw the ,du ,barry and her party fight a duel with ,choiseul's party for his possession--never1 surely1 was a more grim1 more fantastic warfare than that bitter intrigue to get the confessor to the king's bedside1 that meant the dismissal of the favourite before he should be allowed to receive the ,absolution--in which the strange blasphemy was enacted of the ,eucharist being hustled about the passages1 whilst the bigots strove against its administration1 and the freethinkers demanded the last consolation of the ,church4 ,on the #ajth of ,may the small-pox took his distempered body1 already a mass of corruption1 that was hastily flung into a coffin and hurried without pomp1 or circumstance1 or pretence of honours to ,st4 ,denis--being rattled thereto at the trot1 the crowd that lined the way showering epigrams not wholly friendly upon its passing2 and was buried amongst the bones of the ancient kings of his race1 unattended by the ,court1 and amidst the contempt and loud curses of his people4 ,even the poor weeping ,du ,barry was gone1 hustled from the palace at the wandering orders of the dying delirious king4 ,d',aiguillon also1 and ,maupeou and ,terray were gone4 ,and the ,court was hailing the new king and his queen--ill-fated ,louis the ,sixteenth and tactless ,marie ,antoinette4 ,the scandalous levity of the privileged class of the day1 and its ruthless vindictiveness when thwarted1 had near done their work4 ,a proud and gallant people touched bottom in humiliation4 ,the pens of the wits and thinkers sent the new opinion broadcast amongst a people wholly scandalised and punished by the corruption of their governors4 ,these writings made astounding and alarming way4 ,the intellectuals were all on the side of the people--,montesquieu1 ,voltaire1 ,diderot1 ,rousseau1 d',alembert1 ,helvetius1 ,condillac1 the ,abb ,raynal4 ,with wit and sarcasm and invective and argument1 they stirred passions1 appealing to self-respect and dignity and honour and the innate love of freedom in the strong2 they appealed to common-sense1 to the craving for liberty in man's being1 to the rights of the individual2 and the printing-press scattered their wit and wisdom throughout the land to the uttermost corners of ,france4 ,they sneered away false aristocracy1 false religion4 ,they wrought to overthrow the old order1 and brought it into contempt4 ,and they needed to manufacture no evidence4 ,france had lain supine1 a mighty people as they proved themselves when their right arms were freed--lain in chains under the heel of a king who had been capable of setting their necks under the feet of a trivial and foolish woman1 whose nursery had been the gutter4 ,yet ,du ,barry1 when all her faults are set against her1 suffered undue execration4 ,she had no grain of ill-will in her nature4 ,during her reign the ,bastille received no prisoner at her ordering--vengeance was not in her4 ,she was the tool of unscrupulous men2 but she came between them and their base vengeances1 and kept the ,court free from the brutalities that the ,pompadour meted out to her enemies without a pang of remorse4 ,during the whole of her reign1 she visited her old mother every fortnight1 and lavished benefits on her kin--whom most women1 thus suddenly raised to the noblesse1 would have avoided like a plague4 ,the scoundrels who made her their toy were responsible for every evil deed that she was accused of committing4 ,and even the new king1 whose sharp lettre de cachet1 written two days after he came to the throne1 banished her to a convent1 soon relented1 and allowed her to go back to her home at ,luciennes4 ,the ,du ,barry had striven to abolish the lettre de cachet2 the new king brought it back1 inaugurating his reign by having one sent to the woman whose gentleness and kindliness had shrunk from the accursed thing4 ,it was a fit omen of the well-meaning but incompetent king's tragic reign which was about to begin4 ,to ,fragonard these things were but tattle2 yet the doing of them was to reach to his hearth2 the consequences of them were to strip him bare and wreck him--he was to see his wife and womenkind dragging through the streets of ,paris to beg bread and meat at the gates of the city4 ,but the future was mercifully hidden from him4 ,he was now at the height of his career2 and was to taste wider success4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,the ,,fair-,,haired ,,boy 7,in the ,wallace ,collection7 ,to the visitor to the ,wallace collection the picture by ,fragonard next best known after the ,chiffre d',amour and the ,swing1 is this exquisite study of a fair-haired boy--the child is painted with a subtle grace and consummate delicacy rarely combined with the directness and impressionism here displayed by ,fragonard4 ,fragonard's name will always be linked with that of his friend and patron1 a wealthy man1 the farmer-general ,bergeret de ,grandcour4 ,his family visited at the rich man's houses in town and country4 ,now the career of a rich man was incomplete without the making of the ,grand ,tour4 ,at the least the gentleman of means must have roamed through ,italy4 ,and it was thus that1 with ,bergeret de ,grandcour1 ,fragonard now made his second journey into ,italy in his forty-second year4 ,fragonard was delighted at the prospect of seeing his loved ,italy again after twelve years4 ,it was a family party--,fragonard and his wife1 with ,bergeret de ,grandcour and his son1 to say nothing of ,bergeret's servants and cook and following4 ,it was a happy1 merry journeying in extravagant luxury4 ,fragonard had aforetime gone into ,italy as a penniless student and an unknown man2 he now travelled in the grand style as the guest of a man of affairs1 visiting palaces and churches1 received in state by the highest in the land1 dining with the ,ambassador of ,france1 having audience of the ,pope1 advising ,bergeret de ,grandcour in the buying of art-treasures4 ,he tasted all the delights of great wealth4 ,he went to a concert chez le lord ,hamilton1 seeing and speaking with la belle ,emma--,nelson's ,emma4 ,he stood in ,naples2 he tramped up ,vesuvius4 ,it was at ,naples the news came that ,louis the ,fifteenth lay dying of the small-pox--a few days later the old king died4 ,the party at once turned their faces homewards1 returning to ,paris in leisurely fashion by way of ,venice1 ,vienna1 and ,germany1 only to know1 at the journey's ending1 one of those miserable and sordid quarrels that seem to dog the friendships of men of genius4 ,going to ,bergeret de ,grandcour's house in ,paris to get his portfolios of sketches1 made throughout the journey1 ,fragonard found to his amazement and consternation that ,bergeret de ,grandcour angrily refused to give them up1 claiming them as payment for his outlay upon him during the ,italian journey4 ,the sorry business ended in the law-courts1 and in the loss of the lawsuit by ,bergeret de ,grandcour1 who was condemned to give up the drawings or to pay a #cj1jjj livres fine 7#fjjj74 ,the ugly breach that threatened to open between them1 however1 was soon healed by reconciliation2 and ,bergeret de ,grandcour's son became one of ,fragonard's closest and most intimate friends4 ,v ,,the ,,terror ,louis the ,sixteenth1 third son of the ,dauphin who had been ,louis the ,fifteenth's only lawful son1 ascended the throne in his twentieth year1 a pure-minded young fellow1 full of good intentions1 sincerely anxious for the well-being of his people2 but of a diffident and timid character1 and under the influence of a young consort1 the beautiful ,queen ,marie ,antoinette1 of imperious temper and of light and frivolous manners1 who brought to her counsels a deplorable lack of judgment4 ,the ,du ,barry sent a-packing1 and d',aiguillon and the rest of their crew1 the young king recalled the crafty old ,maurepas who had been banished by the ,pompadour1 an ill move--though the setting of ,turgot over the finances augured well4 ,and when the great minister ,turgot fell1 he gave way to as good a man1 the worthy honest banker1 ,neckar4 ,in a happy hour ,fragonard was granted by the king the eagerly sought haven of the artists of his time--a studio and apartments at the old palace of the ,louvre1 as his master ,boucher had been granted them before him4 ,settling in with his wife1 his girl ,rosalie1 his son ,alexandre ,evariste1 and his talented sister-in-law ,marguerite ,grard1 he lived thereat a life almost opulent1 making large sums of money1 some eight thousand pounds a year1 at this time4 ,he joyed in decorating his rooms4 ,he was the life and soul of a group of brilliant men who gathered about him1 having the deepest affection for him4 ,his sister-in-law1 ,marguerite ,grard1 was as gay and distinguished in manners1 and as beautiful1 as his jovial wife was dull and vulgar and coarse--the vile accent of ,grasse1 that made his wife's speech horrible to the ear1 becoming slurred into a shadow of itself on ,marguerite's tongue1 and turned by the enchanting accents of the younger sister's lips into seduction4 ,this girl's friendship and companionship became an ever-increasing delight to the aging painter4 ,their correspondence1 when apart1 was passionately affectionate4 ,ugly scandals got abroad--scandals difficult to prove or disprove4 ,the man and woman were of like tastes1 of like temperaments2 it was1 likely enough1 little more than that4 ,the girl was of a somewhat cold nature2 and we must read her last letters as censoriously as her first--when1 in reply to ,fragonard1 evil days having fallen upon him1 and being old and next to ruined1 on his asking her for money to help him1 she1 who owed everything to him1 refused him with the trite sermon3 to practise economy1 to be reasonable1 and to remember that in brooding over fancies one only increases them without being any the happier4 ,but this was not as yet4 ,fragonard1 happy in his home at the ,louvre1 free from cares1 content amongst devoted friends1 reached his fifty-fifth year when he had suddenly to gaze horrified at the first ugly hint that1 in the years to come1 he must expect to hear the scythe of the ,great ,reaper--know the passing of friends and loved ones4 ,he was to reel under the first serious blow of his life4 ,his bright1 witty1 winsome girl ,rosalie died in her eighteenth year4 ,it nearly killed him4 ,but there was a blacker1 a vaster shadow came looming over the land--a threat that boded ill for such as took life too airily4 ,in an unfortunate moment for the royal house1 and against the will of the king and of ,neckar1 the nation went mad with enthusiasm over ,england's revolted ,american colonies2 and the alliance was formed that ,france swore not to sever until ,america was declared independent4 ,it started the war with ,england4 ,the successes of the revolted colonies made the coming of the ,revolution in ,france a certainty4 ,the fall of ,neckar and the rise of the new minister1 ,calonne1 sent ,france rushing to the brink4 ,the distress of the people became unbearable4 ,the royal family and the ,court sank in the people's respect1 and the people were no longer the people of the decade before--they had watched the ,revolution in ,america1 and they had seen the ,revolution victorious4 ,the fall of ,calonne only led to the rise of the turbulent and stupid ,cardinal de ,brienne2 and the ,court was completely foul of the people when ,de ,brienne threw up office in a panic and fled across the frontier1 leaving the ,government in utter confusion4 ,the king recalled ,neckar4 ,the calling of the ,states-,general now became assured4 ,paris rang with the exultation of the ,third ,estate4 ,the ,states-,general met at ,versailles on the #eth of ,may #aghi4 ,the monarchy was at an end4 ,in little over a month the ,states-,general created itself the ,national ,assembly4 ,the ,revolution was begun4 ,the #adth of ,july saw the fall of the ,bastille4 ,on the #bbnd the people hanged ,foulon to the street-lamp at the corner of the ,place de ,grve--and la lanterne6 became the cry of fashion4 ,fragonard was in his fifty-seventh year when he heard in his lodging at the ,louvre the thunderclap of this #adth of ,july #aghi--saw the dawn of the ,revolution4 ,the rose of the dawn was soon to turn to blood-red crimson4 ,the storm had been muttering and growling its curses for years before the death of ,louis the ,fifteenth4 ,it came up in threatening blackness darkly behind the dawn1 and was soon to break with a roar upon reckless ,paris4 ,it came responsive to the rattle of musketry in the far ,west1 hard by ,boston harbour4 ,fragonard and his friends were of the independents--they were liberals whom love of elegance had not prevented from sympathising with the sufferings of the people1 and who had thrilled with the new thought4 ,fragonard's intelligence drew him naturally towards the new ideas2 indeed he owed little to the ,court2 and when ,france was threatened by the coalition of ,europe against her1 he1 with ,grard1 ,david1 and others1 went on the #gth of ,september with the artist's womenfolk to give up their jewelry to the ,national ,assembly4 ,but the storm burst1 and soon affairs became tragic red4 ,there came1 for the ruin of the cause of a constitutional monarchy and to end the last hope of the ,court party1 the unfortunate death of ,mirabeau--the hesitations of the king--his foolish flight to ,varennes--his arrest4 ,the constitutional party in the ,legislative ,assembly1 at first dominant1 became subordinate to the more violent but more able ,girondists1 with their extreme wing of ,jacobins under ,robespierre1 and ,cordeliers under ,danton1 ,marat1 ,camille ,desmoulins1 and ,fabre d',eglantine4 ,the proscription of all emigrants quickly followed4 ,it was as unsafe to leave as to stay in ,paris4 ,the queen's insane enmity towards ,lafayette finished the king's business4 ,on the night of the #ith of ,august the dread tocsin sounded the note of doom to the royal cause--herald to the bloodshed of the morrow4 ,three days afterwards1 the king and the royal family were prisoners in the ,temple4 ,the ,national ,convention met for the first time on the #bast of ,september #agib2 decreed the ,first ,year of the ,republic1 abolished ,royalty and the titles of courtesy1 decreed in their place citoyen and citoyenne1 and the use of tu and toi for vous4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,le ,,billet ,,doux 7,in the ,collection of ,m4 ,wildenstein1 ,paris7 ,here we see ,fragonard in his phase of sentimental recorder of love-scenes so typical of the art of ,louis the ,fifteenth's day4 ,the ,national ,convention also displayed the antagonism of the two wings of the now all-powerful ,girondist party--the ,girondists and the ,jacobins or ,montagnards4 ,the conflict began with the quarrel as to whether the king could be tried4 ,the #ajth of ,january #agic saw the king's head fall to the guillotine--the ,jacobins had triumphed4 ,war with ,europe followed1 and the deadly struggle between the ,girondists and ,jacobins for supreme power4 ,the #bgth of ,may #agic witnessed the appointment of the terrible and secret ,committee of ,public ,safety4 ,by ,june the ,girondists had wholly fallen4 ,charlotte ,corday's stabbing of ,marat in his bath left the way clear for ,robespierre's ambition4 ,the ,jacobins in power1 the year of the ,reign of ,terror began--,july #agic to ,july #agid--with ,robespierre as the lord of the hellish business4 ,the scaffolds reeked with blood--from that of ,marie ,antoinette and ,egalit ,orleans to that of the ,girondist deputies and ,madame ,roland1 and the most insignificant beggar suspected of the vague charge of hostility to the ,republic4 ,in a mad moment the ,du ,barry1 who had shown the noblest side of her character in befriending the old allies of her bygone days of greatness1 published a notice of a theft from her house4 ,it drew all eyes to her wealth4 ,and she went to the guillotine shrieking with terror and betraying all who had protected her4 ,then came strife amongst the ,jacobins4 ,robespierre and ,danton fought the scoundrel ,hbert for life1 and overthrew him4 ,the ,hebertists went to the guillotine1 dying in abject terror4 ,danton1 with his appeals for cessation of the bloodshed of the ,terror1 alone stood between ,robespierre and supreme power4 ,danton1 ,camille ,desmoulins1 ,eglantine and their humane fellows1 were sent to the guillotine4 ,between the #ajth of ,june and the #bgth of ,july1 in #agid1 fourteen hundred people in ,paris alone died on the scaffold4 ,fragonard dreaded to fly from the tempest4 ,it was as safe to remain in ,paris as to leave the city4 ,any day he might be taken4 ,sadness fell upon him and ate into his heart4 ,the old artist could not look without uneasiness upon the ruin of the aristocracy1 of the farmers-general1 and of the gentle class1 now in exile or prison or under trial--his means of livelihood utterly gone4 ,without hate for ,royalty or for the ,republic1 the artists1 by birth plebeian and in manners bourgeois1 many of them old men1 could but blink with fearful eyes at the vast upheaval4 ,their art was completely put out of fashion--a new art1 solemn and severe1 classical and heroic1 was born4 ,for half a century the charming art of ,france of the eighteenth century lay wholly buried--a thing of contempt wherever it showed above the ashes4 ,fragonard's powerful young friend ,david1 the painter1 now stood sternly watchful over the old man's welfare2 and ,david was at the height of his popularity--he was a member of the ,convention4 ,he took every opportunity to show his friendship publicly1 visited ,fragonard regularly1 secured him his lodgings at the ,louvre1 brought about his election to the jury of the ,arts created by the ,convention to take the place of the ,royal ,academy4 ,but the old artist was bewildered4 ,the national enthusiasm was not in him4 ,the artists were ruined by the destruction of their pensions4 ,the buyers of ,fragonard's pictures were dispersed1 their power and their money gone1 their favour dissipated4 ,fragonard worked on without conviction or truth4 ,the new school uprooted all his settled ideals4 ,he struggled hard to catch the new ideas1 and failed4 ,he helped to plant a tree of liberty in the court of the ,louvre1 meditating the while how he could be gone from ,paris--it was a tragic farce1 played with his soul4 ,the glories of the ,revolution alarmed the old man4 ,he saw the kinsfolk of his friends dragged off to the guillotine4 ,he had guarded against suspicion and arrest by giving a certificate early in #agid1 the year of the ,terror1 stating that he had no intention of emigrating1 adding a statement of residence1 and avowing his citizenship4 ,he felt that even these acts were not enough protection in these terrible years4 ,no man knew when or where the blow might fall--at what place or moment he might be seized1 or on what charge1 and sent to the guillotine4 ,friends were taken in the night4 ,hubert ,robert was seized and flung into ,saint ,lazare1 escaping death but by an accident4 ,the state of misery and want amongst the artists and their wives and families at this time was pitiable4 ,fragonard gladly snatched at the invitation of an old friend of his family1 ,monsieur ,maubert1 to go to him at ,grasse during these anxious times of the travail that had come upon ,france4 ,shortly after that ,sunday in ,december when the ,du ,barry went shrieking to her hideous death at the guillotine1 ,fragonard1 turning his face to the ,south of his birth1 was rolling up amongst his baggage the four finished canvases of ,the ,romance of ,love and ,youth1 and the unfinished fifth canvas1 ,deserted1 ordered and repudiated by the ,du ,barry4 ,he bundled his family into a chaise1 and lumbered out of ,paris1 rumbling on clattering wheels through the guards at the gates1 and making southwards towards ,provence for his friend's house at ,grasse4 ,here1 far away from the din and strife1 ,fragonard set up his world-famous decorative panels in the salon of his host1 which they admirably fitted1 painting for the overdoors1 ,love the ,conqueror1 ,love-folly1 ,love pursuing a ,dove1 ,love embracing the ,universe1 and a panel over the fireplace1 ,triumph of ,love4 ,he also painted during his stay the portraits of the brothers ,maubert2 and1 to keep his host safe from ugly rumours and unfriendly eyes1 he decorated the vestibule with revolutionary emblems1 phrygian bonnet1 axes and faggots1 and the masks of ,robespierre and the ,abb ,gregoire1 and the like trickings of red republicanism4444 ,his host was the maternal grandfather of the ,malvilan1 at whose death in #aijc1 the room and its decorations were sold to an ,american collector for a huge sum of money4 ,meanwhile1 able and resolute men had determined that ,robespierre and the ,terror must end4 ,robespierre went to the guillotine4 ,the ,revolution of the ,ninth ,thermidor put an end to the ,terror in ,july #agid4 ,all this time the armies of ,france were winning the respect of the world by their gallantry and skill4 ,the #bcrd of ,september #agie1 saw ,france establish the ,directory--the #eth of ,october1 the ,day of the ,sections1 saw the stiff fight about the ,church of ,st4 ,roch1 and ,napoleon ,bonaparte appointed second-in-command of the army4 ,the young general was soon ,commander-in-,chief4 ,and ,france thenceforth advanced1 spite of the many blunders of the ,directory1 with all the genius of her race1 to the splendid recovery of her fortunes1 and to a greatness which was to be the wonder and admiration and dread of the world4 ,the ,revolution of the #ahth and #aith of ,brumaire 7#ith and #ajth of ,november #agii7 destroyed the ,directory and set the people's idol1 ,napoleon ,bonaparte1 at the helm of her mighty state4 ,,vi ,,the ,,end ,to ,paris ,fragonard crept back1 he and his family1 to his old quarters at the ,louvre1 when ,napoleon was come to power1 and the guillotine was slaked with blood4 ,he returned to ,paris a poor old man4 ,the enthusiasm was gone out of his invention1 the volition out of his hand's cunning1 the breath out of his career4 ,he was out of the fashion2 a man risen from the dead4 ,his efforts to catch the spirit of the time were pathetic4 ,he painted rarely now4 ,he won a passing success with an historic canvas or so1 done in the new manner4 ,but what did ,fragonard know of political allegories8 what enthusiasm had he for the famous days of the ,revolution8 what were caricature or satire to him1 any more than the heroic splendour of ,greece and ,rome8 ,the gods of elegance were dead2 a severe and frigid morality stood upon their altars4 ,we have a pen-picture of the old painter at this time--short1 big of head1 stout1 full-bodied1 brisk1 alert1 ever gay2 he has red cheeks1 sparkling eyes1 grey hair very much frizzed out2 he is to be seen wandering about the ,louvre dressed in a cloak or overcoat of a mixed grey cloth1 without hooks or eyes or buttons--a cloak which the old man1 when he is at work1 ties at the waist with it does not matter what--a piece of string1 a crumpled chiffon4 ,every one loves little father ,fragonard4 ,through every shock of good and evil fortune he remains alert and cheerful4 ,the old face smiles even through tears4 ,thus1 walking with aging step towards the end1 he saw ,napoleon created ,emperor of the ,french1 his triumphant career marred only at rare intervals by such disasters as ,trafalgar--heard perhaps of the suicide of the unfortunate but gallant ,villeneuve at the disgrace of trial by court-martial for this very loss of ,trafalgar4 ,in the year of #ahjf1 on the ,new ,year's ,day of which were abolished the ,republican reckonings of the years as established at the ,revolution1 suddenly came the suppression of the artists' lodging at the ,louvre by decree of the ,emperor4 ,the ,fragonards went to live hard by in the house of the restaurant-keeper ,very1 in the ,rue ,grenelle ,saint-,honor4 ,the move was for ,fragonard but the prelude to a longer journey4 ,the old artist walks now more sluggishly than of old1 his four-and-seventy years have taken the briskness out of his step4 ,returning from the ,champ de ,mars on a sultry day in ,august he becomes heated--enters a caf to eat an ice2 congestion of the brain sets in4 ,at five of the clock in the morning of the #bbnd day of ,august #ahjf1 ,fragonard enters into the eternal sleep--at the hour that his master ,boucher had gone to sleep4 ,thus passed away the last of the great painters of ,france's gaiety and lightness of heart4 ,madame ,fragonard lived to be seventy-seven1 dying in #ahbd4 ,marguerite ,grard had a happy career as an artist under the ,empire and the ,restoration1 but never married--dying at seventy-six1 loaded with honours and in comfortable circumstances in the year that ,queen ,victoria came to the throne of ,england4 ,thus peacefully ended the days of ,fragonard and his immediate kin after the turmoil and fierce tragic years of the ,terror4 ,painting with prodigal hand a series of elegant masterpieces in a century that made elegance its god1 ,fragonard disappeared1 neglected and well-nigh discredited for years1 with ,watteau and ,boucher and ,greuze for goodly company2 but with them1 he is come into his own again1 lord of a very realm of beauty4 ,to understand the atmosphere of the ,france of the seventeen-hundreds before the ,revolution it is necessary to understand the art of ,watteau1 of ,boucher1 of ,fragonard1 and of ,chardin4 ,of its pictured romance1 ,watteau and ,boucher and ,fragonard hold the keys4 ,to shut the book of these is to be blind to the revelation of the greater part of that romance4 ,watteau states the new ,france of light airs and gaiety and pleasant prospects1 tinged with sweet melancholy1 that became the dream of a ,france rid of the pomposity and mock-heroics of the ,grand ,monarque2 ,boucher fulfils the century2 ,fragonard utters its swan's note4 ,the art of ,fragonard embodies astoundingly the pulsing evening of a century of the life of ,france1 uttering its gay blithe note1 skimming over the dangerous deeps of its mighty significance1 yet not wholly disregarding the deeps as did the art of his two great forerunners4 ,his is the last word of that mock-heroic ,france that ,louis the ,fourteenth built on stately and pompous pretence2 that ,louis the ,fifteenth still further corrupted by the worship of mere elegance2 that ,louis the ,sixteenth sent to its grave--a suffering people out of which a real ,france arose1 from mighty and awful travail1 like a giant1 and stood bestriding the world1 a superb reality4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh