Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806)

"Ange Tenant une Palme et une Couronne" [Angel Carrying a Palm and a Crown], 1761/65 after a painting made by Annibal Carrache (1560–1609) for the Piacenza cathedral

Etching on fine laid paper.

Size: (image) 8 x 12.9 cm; (sheet) 8.9 x 14 cm; (frame) 41 x 44 cm

State: ii (of ii)

Lettered with location and name of the author of the original painting,and signed on plate: 'frago sc' and numbered "14"

Baudicou 14; Wildenstein (1956) XX (Bau.14)

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

"An angel standing with a palm leaf in his left hand and crowning a martyr from the other hand; on the right, a man holding a palm leaf." (http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1360991&partId=1&searchText=Fragonard+etching&people=124749&page=1)

Condition: crisp lifetime impression of the utmost rarity, cut on the plate mark on laid paper in excellent condition. Framed with a simple limed wood moulding under 3mm acrylic sheet (not glass) with a conservation mount. (Note: this etching has been photographed in its frame and so there are reflections)

I am selling this framed and exceptionally rare lifetime impression by Fragonard for a total cost of AU$439 (currently US$317.22/EUR284.66/GBP219.04 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this rare original Fragonard, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make your payment easy.

This print has been sold

Seldom does one even see an original Fragonard etching and certainly not one as beautiful as this. The print may be small in physical size, but the lightness of the artist's touch and the confidence of drawing showcases Fragonard's stature as one of the most famous French masters of the Rocco period.

The subject is based on Annibal Carrache's design for the ceiling dome of the cathedral at Piacenza. If anyone has had the same opportunity as the cook and I have had to be stranded in the small narrow street medieval and now industrial town of Piacenza waiting for our gardener to recover in hospital, I suspect that seeing the grandeur of such a design would be like a glimpse into heaven.

Be mindful when looking at this image that there is a big difference between an angel carrying a palm and crown designed for a ceiling and one designed for a wall. A good design for an angel destined for a ceiling should make her appear to float rather than fall and this angel floats marvellously.