“A Young Girl Reading” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard depicts a girl in profile wearing a lemon yellow dress with a white ruff collar and cuffs and purple ribbons.
The girl is reading from a small book held, and a cushion resting against a wall supports her back. Her face and dress are lit from the front.
Fragonard used fine brushwork on the face and looser brushwork on the dress and cushion. The ruff was scratched into the paint with the end of a brush.
This painting is a genre painting of an everyday scene, and not a portrait as the name of the sitter is not known. X-rays have revealed that the canvas initially featured a different face looking towards the viewer, which Fragonard painted over.
The figure represents femininity, and the Rococo color scheme conveys emotions and a mood. The darker background color frames and emphasizes the subject’s female profile.
The face of the young girls has a rosy-tint, which adds a delicate feel to the painting. The book has no clear writing, which contributes to a sense of mystery. Is she reading for pleasure or academic purposes?
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard became a prominent painter within the Rococo artistic movement, which was filled with light colors, asymmetrical designs, and curved, natural forms.
The Rococo style emerged in Paris during the eighteenth century, more specifically during the reign of Louis XV.
Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings and among his most famous works are genre paintings conveying an atmosphere of intimacy and veiled eroticism.
A Young Girl Reading
- Title: A Young Girl Reading
- Artist: Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- Created: 1770
- Media: Oil-on-canvas
- Movement Rococo
- Dimensions: 81.1 cm × 64.8 cm ( 31 15⁄16 in × 25 1⁄2 in)
- Museum: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States
Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- Name: Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- Born: 1732 – Grasse, France
- Died: 1806 (aged 74) – Paris, France
- Nationality: French
- Notable works:
- A Young Girl Reading
- The Stolen Kiss
- The Happy Accidents of the Swing
Fragonard’s Young Girl Reading
Explore the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C
- “Ginevra de’ Benci” by Leonardo da Vinci
- “A Young Girl Reading” by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
- “Small Cowper Madonna” by Raphael
- “The Alba Madonna” by Raphael
- “Nude on a Divan” by Amedeo Modigliani
- “Nude on a Blue Cushion” by Amedeo Modigliani
- “Saint Jerome” by El Greco
- “The Houses of Parliament, Sunset” by Claude Monet (National Gallery of Art, DC)
- “Breezing Up (A Fair Wind)” by Winslow Homer
- “Madame Moitessier” by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
- Masterpieces of the National Gallery of Art
- Portraits
- Mythological Paintings
- History Paintings
Looking At Fragonard and Composition
A Tour of Washington, D.C. Museums
- National Gallery of Art
- National Museum of American History
- National Air and Space Museum
- National Museum of African American History and Culture
- National Museum of Natural History
- National Portrait Gallery
- Smithsonian American Art Museum
- The Phillips Collection
- Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- International Spy Museum
- National Museum of Women in the Arts
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Painting of Young Girl Reading by Jean Honore Fragonard at the National Gallery of Art
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“The artist who aims at perfection in everything achieves it in nothing.”
– Eugene Delacroix
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Photo Credit 1) Jean-Honoré Fragonard [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
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