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A group of seven eighteenth-century women gathered in a dormitory setting with draped windows. It’s monochromatic, lightly and loosely drawn.

The women wear sleeping gowns, most with caps, hair up underneath. Two women stand in the center, looking down towards each other, holding up fabric, their back and profile to us, light in front of them shines around them and through clothing. From the left, two women sit or recline toward the center. A small dog looks at the two women, lying on a floor pillow. On the right, one woman raises up a garment in her left hand, breasts exposed in a playful pose, her other arm holds down another who’s on her stomach, kicking up a leg.　

Identification and Creation

Object Number
1954.106
People
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French (Grasse 1732 - 1806 Paris)
Title
The Dormitory
Other Titles
Alternate Title: The Servant Girls' Dormitory
Alternate Title: Servant Girls Preparing for Bed
Original Language Title: Le Coucher des Ouvrières
Original Language Title: Scène de Dortoir
Original Language Title: Le Lever
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
c. 1770
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/299971

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Brown wash (unfiltered bistre) over graphite on off-white antique laid paper, framing lines in brown ink
Dimensions
23.9 × 36.8 cm (9 7/16 × 14 1/2 in.)
frame: 46.5 × 58.9 × 6 cm (18 5/16 × 23 3/16 × 2 3/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • collector's mark: lower right, black ink: Gabriel Huquier (L.1285)
  • watermark: D & C Blauw

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
After Huquier, the following provenance is for this drawing and/or the other version of this composition, now in a private Parisian collection: Gabriel Huquier, Paris (his mark, L.1285, lower right); possibly Louis Varanchan de Saint-Geniès, Paris (his sale, Paris, Paillet—Chariot, 29-31 December 1777, lot 63); possibly Peter Adolf Hall, Paris (his collection inventory, 10 May 1778—see Villot 1867, p. 77); possibly Erik Magnus, Baron Staël von Holstein, Paris and Poligny (1); possibly Emmanuel de Ghendt, Paris (his sale, Paris, Basan—Guilleaumon, 15-22 November 1779, lot 261); possibly Chevalier Charles-François Mesnard de la Claye, called Mesnard de Clesne, Paris (his sale, Paris, Paillet—Boileau, 4 December 1786, lot 114); possibly Étienne-Laurent-Joseph-Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe or Fons Colombe, Aix-en-Provence (his sale, Paris, Lebrun—Le Jeune, 13 December 1790, lot 116); possibly Hubert Robert, Paris (his sale, Paris, Paillet—Olivier, 5 April 1809, part of lot 165); possibly Destaisnières, Paris? (his sale, Paris, Laneuville—Haize, 16 November 1806, lot 29); possibly Vivant-Jean (Bon) Brunet-Denon, Paris and Châtenoy-en-Bresse (his sale, Paris, Defer and Roussel—Bonnefons, 2 February 1846, lot 245); possibly Baron A. Saint, Paris? (his sale, Paris, Defer—Bonnefons, his sale, Paris, 4-11 or 30 May 1846, lot 15); Émile Norblin, Paris (his sale, Paris, 16-17 March 1860, lot 56); possibly Hippolyte Walferdin, Paris (his sale, Paris, Drouot—Escribe, 12-16 April 1880, lot 213); Etienne-François Haro, Paris (2); Galerie Wildenstein (3); David David-Weill, Paris; Galerie Wildenstein; Charles E. Dunlap, New York and Newport; Harvard Art Museums/ Fogg, Gift of Charles E. Dunlap, inv. no. 1954.106

(1) See New York 1959, cat. no. 46, pp. 50-51.
(2) Acquired at the Walferdin sale, according to the Drouot—Escribe sale catalogue.
(3) Traditionally, Camille Groult is cited as the owner of the drawing before Galerie Wildenstein procures it for the first time. However, based on caption information in a contemporary publication by Georges Grappe, the Groult drawing was the second known version of the Fragonard composition (see Grappe, H. Fragonard: peinture de l'amour au XVIIIe siècle, vol. 2, 1913, p. 74, repr.).

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Charles E. Dunlap
Accession Year
1954
Object Number
1954.106
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Bonnefons de Lavialle, Catalogue d'une belle collection de tableaux anciens et modernes, principalement de maîtres français aux 18e et 19e siècles Watteau, Chardin, Fragonard, Greuze, Prudhon, etc., exh. cat., Bonnefons de Lavialle (Paris, 1846), cat. no. 15, p. 8
  • Frédéric Villot, Hall: célèbre miniaturiste du XVIIIe siècle sa vie, ses œuvres, sa correspondance: observations sur la technique de la miniature en France et en Angleterre, Libraire française et étrangère (Paris, 1867), p. 77
  • Louis Clément de Ris, Les amateurs d'autrefois, E. Plon et cie (Paris, 1877), p .450
  • Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt, L'art du dix-huitième siècle, A. Quantin (Paris, 1880-1882), vol. 2, p. 373
  • Baron Roger Portalis, Honoré Fragonard, sa vie et son oeuvre, J. Rothschild (Paris, 1889), vol. 1, p. 66, vol. 2, pp. 194, 221-22, 297
  • Félix Naquet, Fragonard, Librairie de l'Art (Paris, 1890), pp. 28, 57
  • Lady Emilia Francis Strong Dilke, French Painters of the XVIIIth Century, George Bell and Sons, Ltd. (London, 1899), p. 67
  • Virgile Josz, Fragonard: moeurs du XVIIIe siècle, Société du Mercure de France (Paris, 1901), pp. 110, 241
  • Camille Mauclair, Fragonard, Henri Laurens (Paris, 1904), pp. 24, 91
  • Armand Dayot, Fragonard, L'Art et les Artistes (Paris, 1907), pp. 141-58, p. 150
  • Georges Grappe, H. Fragonard; peinture de l'amour au XVIIIe siècle, H. Piazza (Paris, 1913), vol. 2, p. 74, repr.
  • Georges Wildenstein, Exposition d’œuvres de J.-H. Fragonard, exh. cat., Presses de Frazier-Soye (Paris, 1921), cat. no. 159, p. 48
  • Gabriel Henriot, Collection David-Weill, Braun (Paris, 1926-1928), vol. 3, p. 146
  • François Boucher, L'exposition de la vie Parisienne au XVIIIe siècle au Musée Carnavalet, Gazette des Beaux-Arts (Paris, 1928), pp. 204-205, repr.
  • Alfred M. Frankfurter, Draftsmen of the Dix-Huitième: Pastels and Watercolors from the David-Weill Collection, Art News, ARTnews Associates (New York, 1938), no. 37, pp. 11-12, 24, 28, p. 12, repr.
  • Jean Robiquet, La femme dans la peinture française, XVe-XXe siècle, Les Éditions nationales (Paris, 1938), p. 125, repr.
  • Henri Algoud, Fragonard, Les Documents d'Art (Monaco, 1941), p. 17, repr.
  • Louis Réau, Fragonard: sa vie et son oeuvre, Elsevier (Brussels, 1956), p. 197
  • Alexandre Ananoff, Comment dessinait Fragonard, Jardin des Arts, Éditions Tallandier (Paris, 1957), no. 33, pp. 515-22, p. 517, repr.
  • Agnes Mongan, De Clouet a Matisse: Dessins français des collections américaines, exh. cat., Musée de l'Orangerie (Paris, 1958), cat. no. 46, n.p., repr. as pl. 66
  • Agnes Mongan, Van Clouet tot Matisse: tentoonstelling van franse tekeningen uit amerikaanse collecties, exh. cat., Museum Boymans (Rotterdam, 1958), cat. no. 46, pp. 52-53, repr. as pl. 59
  • Agnes Mongan, French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse, exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, 1959), cat. no. 46, pp. 50-51, pl. 59, repr.
  • Alexandre Ananoff, L'Œuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), Libraire F. de Nobele (Paris, 1961-1970), vol. 4, cat. no. 1988, p. 36
  • Jean Starobinski, The Invention of Liberty: 1700-1789, Skira (Geneva, 1964), pp. 120-21, 125
  • Henri Mitterand, Émile Zola: Œuvres completes, Cercle du Livre Précieux (Paris, 1966-1969), vol. 9, pp. 930, 1208, repr.
  • Jean Rousselot, La femme: De la Préhistoire à nos jours, P. Amiot (Paris, 1968), p. 223
  • Pierre Mazars, Fragonard's Universe, ed. Henri Screpel, Barron's (New York, 1971), p. 52, repr.
  • Eunice Williams, Drawings by Fragonard in North American Collections, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art (Washington, 1978), cat. no. 22, pp. 72-73, repr.
  • Jean Montague Massengale, "Review: Drawings by Fragonard in North American Collections", The Burlington Magazine, The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd. (London, 1979), vol. 121, no. 913, pp. 270, 275, repr. as fig. 99
  • Marianne Roland Michel, "Fragonard et le dessin", Connaissance des Arts (Paris, 1987), pp. 28-38, p. 34
  • Pierre Cabanne, Fragonard, Somogy (Paris, 1987), pp. 77, 153
  • Pierre Rosenberg, Fragonard, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 1987-1988), cat. no. 113, pp. 238-39, repr.
  • Jean-Jacques Lévêque, La vie et l'œuvre de Jean-Honoré Fragonard, ACR Édition (Paris, 1987), p. 211, repr.
  • Pierre Rosenberg, Fragonard, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art / Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (New York, 1988), pp. 238-239, cat. 113, repr
  • Eunice Williams, "Gens, Honorez Fragonard!": Works from the Collections of Harvard University and Harvard Friends, brochure, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 1993), no. 9
  • Masterpieces of world art : Fogg Art Museum, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1997
  • Marianne Roland Michel, "On Some Collectors of Eighteenth-Century French Drawings in the United States", Mastery & Elegance: Two Centuries of French Drawings from the Collection of Jeffrey E. Horvitz, ed. Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 1998), pp. 53-75, pp. 60-61, repr.
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr., "To Delight the Eye": French Drawings and Paintings from the Collection of Charles E. Dunlap, exh. cat., Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 2005), cat. no. 8, p. 8
  • Jean-Pierre Cuzin and Dimitri Salmon, Fragonard: regards croisés, Editions Mengès (2007), pp. 103, 204, 229 n. 105, 234 n. 86
  • Stephan Wolohojian and Alvin L. Clark, Jr., Harvard Art Museum/ Handbook, ed. Stephan Wolohojian, Harvard Art Museum (Cambridge, 2008), p. 117, repr.
  • Sophie Chaveau, Fragonard, l'invention du bonheur, Gallimard (Paris, 2013), p. 207
  • Manuela Fidalgo, Drawings and Watercolours in the Calouste Gulbenkian Collection, exh. cat., Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon, 2014), under cat. no. 16, p. 100, repr. as fig.16.1
  • Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, Mary D. Sheriff, and Juliette Trey, Fragonard amoureux: Galant et libertin, ed. Guillaume Faroult, Réunion des musées nationaux - Grand Palais (Paris, 2015), cat. no. 47, pp. 44, 62-63, 154, 156-57, fig. 26, repr.
  • Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey, "Lugt 1285: From Gabriel Huquier to Peter Adolf Hall", Master Drawings (New York, 2017), vol. 55, no. 4, pp. 485-538, p. 487, cat. no. I, 42
  • Edouard Kopp, Elizabeth M. Rudy, and Kristel Smentek, ed., Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment, exh. cat., Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), pp. 277-273, repr. p. 277 as fig. 3
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr. and Edouard Kopp, French Drawings from the Age of Claude, Poussin, Watteau, and Fragonard: Highlights from the Collection of the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), cat. no. 87, repr.; detail repr. p. 233, p. 17

Exhibition History

  • Exposition d’œuvres de J.-H. Fragonard, Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, 06/07/1921 - 07/10/1921
  • La vie parisienne au XVIIIe siecle, Musée Carnavalet, 03/20/1928 - 04/30/1928
  • French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse, Museum Boymans, Rotterdam, 07/31/1958 - 09/28/1958; Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris, 10/24/1958 - 01/02/1959; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 02/03/1959 - 03/15/1959
  • Drawings by Fragonard in North American Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 11/19/1978 - 01/21/1979; Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/16/1979 - 04/01/1979; The Frick Collection, New York, 04/20/1979 - 06/03/1979
  • Fragonard, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, 09/24/1987 - 01/04/1988; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 02/02/1988 - 05/08/1988
  • “Gens, Honorez Fragonard!”: Works from the Collection of Harvard University and Harvard Friends, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/15/1993 - 07/11/1993
  • "To Delight the Eye": French Drawings and Paintings from the Collection of Charles E. Dunlap, Harvard University Art Museums, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 12/17/2005 - 03/12/2006
  • HAA 271x The Origins of Modernity: The "New" 18th Century Rotation #2: Large Niche (S426A) Spring 2011, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 03/11/2011 - 06/18/2011
  • Fragonard amoureux: Galant et libertin, Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, 09/16/2015 - 01/24/2016
  • Dare to Know: Prints and Drawings in the Age of Enlightenment, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/16/2022 - 01/15/2023

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu