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 Eruption of Monte Nuovo

Jean-Honoré Fragonard
1732-1806

The Eruption of Monte Nuovo

ca. 1778-80
8 11/16 x 6 1/2 inches (221 x 165 mm)
Pen and brush and brown ink, over black chalk, on paper.
1955.2

Purchased as the gift of Rowland Burdon-Muller.

Notes
This design is one of Fragonard's studies for a tailpiece to chapter eleven, devoted to the Campi Phlegrei (the volcanic district west of Naples), in the abbé de Saint-Non's "Voyage pittoresque ou description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicilie", Paris, 1781-1786, volume I, part 2, p. 222. The design was engraved by Charles Guttenberg. The Voyages is a five volume compendium containing several hundred plates and vignettes and to which Fragonard was a significant contributor. The decorative flourishes of this design are in part a free adaptation of an ornamental etching by the Italian artist Stefano della Bella (1610-1664).
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed at lower center, below dolphin, "Monte novo"; at lower left, "I y".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis in shield over 4 and letters "WR", fragment of bottom, probably Vanderley.
Associated names
De Fabregoules, M. de Bourguignon. former owner.
Giraud, Charles, 1802-1881, former owner.
Flury-Hérard, former owner.
Burdon-Muller, Rowland, donor.
Bibliography
Adams, Frederick B., Jr. Seventh Annual Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1957, p. 76-79.
A review of acquisitions, 1949-1968 / Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : The Library, 1969, p. 144-145.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 117.
Denison, Cara, Myra Nan Rosenfeld, and Stephanie Wiles. Exploring Rome : Piranesi and His Contemporaries. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library; Montréal : Centre Canadien d'Architecture, 1993, no. 92, repr.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department