PARIS.- On 21st December at Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Boisgirard - Antonini auction house will unveil an a newly discovered work by the renowned painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard. With an estimate of €400,000 - 600,000, La Jeune fille au chapeau is an incredible discovery from the same collection as the Philosophe, discovered in 2021: that of Dominique Magaud (1722-1806), deputy to the Estates-General, justice of the piece, prosecutor for the king, and deputy of Puy de Dôme.

This discovery illustrates a fabulous history that makes it possible to reconstitute a collection, bring together paintings that have been separated since the late 19th century, and better understand the work of the artist and his relations with his patrons.

The attractive portrait shows a young woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat trimmed in pink that casts shadow on her eyes and half of her face without hiding her gaze. The artist uses an incredibly flexible and spirited technique here, showcasing his virtuosity. It is the same approach that he applied in several of his masterpieces as he was breaking away from the usual conventions to paint his “fantasy figures” series. One of these, kept at the Musée du Louvre, dated from 1769, bears the inscription “painted in one hour’s time.”

The style is comparable to that of the Philosophe lisant, which belongs to the same collection, and is probably from the same period, circa 1770-1775. The composition shows energetic brushwork that sweeps across the canvas, depicting the clothing with very dynamic white smudges. Wide, loaded strokes reveal the pressure of the artist’s hand fluidly spreading impasto.

The coquettish appearance of the young woman and her hat-shaded gaze are also similar to those of a background figure in a composition that probably came later – The Visit to the Nursery –, of which several versions exist, including one among the collections of Waddesdon Manor (United Kingdom) and another at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

This portrait features the oval shape that was fashionable in the 18th C. for artists such as Watteau, Chardin, and Boucher, leading up to artists at the end of the century. Views of interiors from that period show a number of examples bringing interest to hanging arrangements. Fragonard particularly appreciated the format, which characterizes nearly one-sixth of all his paintings and brings energy and vitality to his compositions.