A dream Fragonard at Artcurial

18/11/23 - Art market - Paris - Artcurial is offering another fine sale of paintings and sculptures (including a number of drawings) next week. One of the most talked-about paintings is sure to set bids alight, especially as it has been granted an export certificate. It is a sketch by Fragonard depicting an ancient sacrifice (ill. 1).

1. Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806)
The sacrifice to the Minotaur
Oil on canvas - 72 x 91 cm
Artcurial sale, Paris, 22 November 2023
Photo: Artcurial

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This canvas has absolutely everything that makes up the artist’s genius: a perfectly articulated composition, an airily light brushstroke, subtle colours... The long catalogue entry describes it as "the most beautiful sketch of the eighteenth century". It is only natural that it should promote it, and no doubt it exaggerates a little, but it is clear that it is one of the most beautiful sketches of the period. Once again, in 2023, as in every year since 2012, the Ministry of Culture’s budget for acquisitions will be halved compared with 2011. That’s 15 million less in constant euros! This would allow provincial museums to acquire at least one or two works of this quality per year.
Will French museums nonetheless be as active at the end of the year as they usually are, at lower price levels? We can only hope. In any case, this sale will provide them with plenty of temptation. Here are just a few of the works that make up a far from exhaustive selection, and which are not necessarily destined to enter French public collections (others are just as attractive).

2. Bernardo Strozzi (1581-1644)
Madona of Justice
Oil on canvas - 31 x 21.5 cm
Artcurial sale, Paris, 22 November 2023
Photo: Artcurial

See the image in its page

For example, a very small sketch by Bernardo Strozzi, preparatory to Madona of Justice held at the Louvre, deserves to enter the museum’s collections even more for its art historical interest than for…