(Grasse 1732-1806 Paris) A tomb in the crypt of the cathedral of Parma, 1761, contre-epreuve, on laid paper, 15,8 x 25,5 cm, inscribed "Tombeau dans l'église souterraine du dosme à Parme" in pencil at lower margin, with an old mount of the 18th century, framed, (Sch)

Literature: Pierre Rosenberg, "Fragonard à Parme, Fragonard et Parme", in: Antologia di Belle Arti, Nos. 43-47, 1993, p. 161-162. Alexandre Ananoff, L'oeuvre dessiné de Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Paris 1961-1970, Vol. IV, Cat. 2651; Pierre Rosenberg & Barbara Brejon de Lavergnée, Panopticon italiano. Un diario di viaggio ritrovato, 1759-1761, Rome 1986, Cat. 308; Andrea Bacchi, Prospero Clemente. Uno scultore manierista nella Reggio del '500, Milan 2001, p. 140-147; C. Gandoli, "Le sculture metafisiche di Prospero Spani detto il Clemente", Musei Ferraresi, 1974, p. 141, Cat. 4.

On their return journey from Rome to Paris in 1761 Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Jean-Claude Richard Abbé de Saint-Non (1727-1791) executed copies after more than three hundred Old Master paintings. The drawings were considered preliminary drawings for an illustrated travel guide; part of them was included and published in Saint-Non‘s "Voyage pittoresque ou Description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile" (5 vols., Paris 1781-1786). Most drawings were executed in black chalk, a few of them in red chalk what makes the present drawing a rarity.

On August 1st, 1761 Fragonard and Saint Non arrived in Parma and lived there in the Palazzo of Colorno until August 1761. Fragonard made two drawings after the tomb of the lawman and collector Bartolomeo Pati (1571-1542) which was then recently renovated. The tomb was preserved in the crypt of the cathedral of Parma, which was executed by the sculptor Prospero Clemente (1516-1584) after a design of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli (c. 1502-1569) in 1543. Until today only a drawing in black chalk (16,9 x 25,6 cm) in the Norton Simon Foundation, and a contre-epreuve in black chalk in the Collection du Fretay in Paris are known (comp. Ananoff 1961-1970, vol. IV, cat. 2651, 2651a; Rosenberg 1986, cat. 308). The drawing in red chalk seems to have disappeared; the present red chalk contre-epreuve, however, seems to be a fine testimony of it.

The attribution to Jean-Honoré Fragonard was confirmed by Dr. Pierre Rosenberg.

Literature: Pierre Rosenberg, "Fragonard à Parme, Fragonard et Parme", in: Antologia di Belle Arti, Nos. 43-47, 1993, p. 161-162. Alexandre Ananoff, L'oeuvre dessin