Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

The Fiancee of the King of Garbe: The Tree

Jean-Honoré Fragonard
1732-1806

The Fiancee of the King of Garbe: The Tree

ca. 1790
8 1/16 x 5 1/2 inches (205 x 140 mm)
Brush and wash, with brown ink, over black chalk, on paper.
1993.3

Purchased on the Gordon N. Ray Fund.

Notes
Fragonard's design for an illustration to La Fontaine's “Les Contes” (The Tales) reveals the complexity of this protracted project. The scene replicates a composition known from a reworked counterproof, now in an album in the Petit Palais, Paris. The original design may have dated from around 1770 when the artist undertook a sustained campaign to illustrate the salacious and popular tales following his first trip to Italy. This replication, and updating, of the design may date to around 1790 when Fragonard contributed plates to an edition organized by Pierre Didot and published in 1795. Alternatively, it may have been produced for an independent commission, given the appeal of the gallant subject to collectors. While the scene did not appear in Didot's publication, it served as the basis for a print by Louis Jacques Petit for which Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey identified a 1797 payment to Petit from Fragonard.
The scene depicts the sultan of Alexandria's daughter Alaciel standing at the base of the tree regarding her ardent admirer, a Sudanese lord named Hispal, although she is promised in marriage to the king of Garbe.
Inscriptions/Markings
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis. Drawing is lined.
Associated names
Jamonières, former owner.
Piat, A., former owner.
Bibliography
Alexandre Ananoff, "L'Oeuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1732-1806", 4 vols., Paris, 1961-1970, IV, no. 2708, fig. 676.
Perrin Stein et al., Fragonard: Drawing Triumphant. Works from New York Collections, exh. Cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2016, no. 85.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department