Getty Museum
Oh! If Only He Were as Faithful to Me
Creator
Jean-Honoré FragonardFrench Artist · 1732–1806
All works by this person →Born in the small city of Grasse, Jean-Honoré Fragonard moved to Paris with his family in 1738. While still in his teens, he apprenticed to Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin for just six months and then worked in François Boucher's studio. He won the Prix de Rome in 1752, then spent three preparatory years under Carle Vanloo before studying at the Académie de France in Rome from 1756 to 1761. Fragonard
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1770–1775
- Medium
- Brush with brown wash and black chalk
- Culture
- French
- Department
- Drawings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
A young woman clad only in a negligee kneels on her unmade bed, hands clasped in despair. As the drawing's title makes clear, she bemoans her lover's infidelity. With tongue-in-cheek humor, Jean-Honoré Fragonard juxtaposed the woman's exaggerated distress with her dog's unwavering loyalty. The woman's pose, taken from representations of the penitent saint Mary Magdalene, the reformed New Testament courtesan traditionally depicted with long, flowing hair, further emphasizes the drawing's light, satirical tone. Fragonard's light, fluent washes also work to convey a sense of abandonment, evident especially in the wildly tossed-about bedclothes. These fluid passages contrast with the arresting precision of the woman's eye, nostril, and mouth, captured in small marks made with the point of the brush. In the later 1760s, Fragonard created a number of drawings devoted to erotic themes. He made this one as a study for an engraving.
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