FRAGONARD, , French painter, was born at Grasse, the son of a glover. He was articled to a Paris notary when his father's circumstances became straitened through unsuccessful speculations, but he showed such talent and inclination for art that he was taken at the age of 18 to Boucher, who, recognizing the youth's rare gifts, sent him to Chardin's atelier. Fragonard studied for six months under the great luminist, and then returned to Boucher, whose style he soon acquired so completely that the mas ter entrusted him with the execution of re plicas of his paintings. Though he was not a pupil of the Academy, Fragonard gained the Prix de Rome in 1752 with a pafnting of "Jeroboam sacrificing to the Idols," but before proceeding to Rome he continued to study for three years under Van Loo.
In the year preceding his departure he painted the "Christ washing the Feet of the Apostles" now at Grasse cathedral.
In 1755 he took up his abode at the French Academy in Rome, then presided over by Natoire. There he benefited from the study of the old masters such as Pietro da Cortona whom he was set to copy—and a summer sojourn at the Villa d'Este in the company of the abbe de Saint-Non, who engraved many of Fragonard's studies of these entrancing gardens—did more towards forming his personal style than all the training at the various schools. Added to this influence was the deep impression made upon his mind by Tiepolo's works which he had an opportunity of studying in Ven ice before he returned to Paris in 1761. In 1765 his "Coresus et Callirhoe" (Louvre) secured his admission to the Academy. It was made the subject of a pompous eulogy by Diderot, and was bought by the king, who had it reproduced at the Gobelins factory. Hitherto Fragonard had hesitated between religious, classic and other subjects: but now the demand of the wealthy art patrons of Louis XV.'s pleasure-loving court turned him deli nitely towards those scenes of love and voluptuousness with which his name will ever be associated, and which are made acceptable by the tender beauty of his -colour and the virtuosity of his facile brushwork—such works as the "Serment d'amour," "Le Verrou," "La Culbute," "La Chemise enlevee" and "The Swing" (Wallace collection), and his decorations for the apartments of Mme. du Barry and the dancer Marie Guimard.
The Revolution put an end to the ancien regime, and Fra gonard, who was so closely allied to its representatives, left Paris in 1793 and found shelter in the house of his friend Maubert at Grasse, which he decorated with the series of decorative panels known as the "Roman d'amour de la jeunesse," originally painted for Mme. du Barry's pavilion at Louvecienne. The panels were in the possession of Mr. Pierpont Morgan, and have passed into the Frick Collection in New York. Fragonard returned to Paris early in the i gth century, and died there in 1806, neglected and almost forgotten. But within the last 3o years he has regained the position among the masters of painting to which he is entitled by his genius.
Besides the works already mentioned, there are four important pictures by Fragonard in the Wallace collection. The Louvre contains 13 examples of his art. Other works are in the museums of Lille, Besancon, Rouen, Tours, Nantes, Avignon, Amiens, Grenoble, Nancy, Orleans, Marseilles, etc., as well as at Chantilly. Some of Fragonard's finest work is in the collections of the Roths child family in London and Paris. His most important engraving is "L'Armoire" (1778).