Jean-Honoré FRAGONARD Grasse, 1732 - Paris, 1806 Young Washerwomen Oil on canvas (Restorations) Young washerwomen, oil on canvas, by J. H. Fragonard 54 x 68 cm (21,26 x 26,77 in.) Provenance: Collection of the Del Gallo Roccagiovine family, of French origin and established in Rome during the Empire; Anonymous sale; New York, Christie's, 8 June 2011, no. 62 ; Acquired at this sale by the current owner Bibliography: Jean-Pierre Cuzin, 'Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Vie et œuvre. Catalogue complet des peintures', Fribourg and Paris, 1987, p. 271, no. 61 Pierre Rosenberg, 'Tout l'œuvre peint de Fragonard', Paris, 1989, pp. 76-77, no. 52 Commentary : Fragonard's first stay in Italy, from 1756 to 1761, was marked by the creation of scenes of popular life served by virtuoso craftsmanship. They accurately and sensitively convey the painter's impressions of the everyday life of the men and women of the Rome he was discovering. Our young washerwomen, busy washing sheets in a large vat, belong to this early production by Fragonard. The one in the foreground catches the viewer's full attention, although she is unaware of his presence. Kneeling on the floor, her hair held in place by a red cloth headband, she lays a sheet to her left, while her companion leans over the tall metal vat and a young child swings his legs through the balustrade above her head. Woven baskets, an irregular fence, a few strands of straw and an earthen pot complete the décor of this rustic scene. Several paintings on similar subjects were produced by Fragonard during this period, such as Les blanchisseuses ou La lessive, in the Saint Louis Art Museum, and Les blanchisseuses ou L'étendage, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Rouen, where we find a linen maid with a yellow petticoat and a red ribbon in her hair (fig. 1). However, these are interior scenes with many characters, whereas here the painter invites us into a courtyard, focusing his narrative on three figures. During the same period, Hubert Robert also depicted women washing and hanging out their washing to dry in the Italian sun, such as the La Lingère of 1761, now at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. However, Fragonard's works are characterised by sharper contrasts of colour and light, and here the white of the sheets, the bright yellow of the young woman's petticoat and the red of her hairstyle shimmer in a cameo of browns. The lively, rapid brushstrokes he uses here, a true expression of the pleasure of painting, is one that he would continue to use regularly throughout his career, and one that still delights art lovers today.