Year Circa 1769 Artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard Period Rococo | Medium Oil on canvas Created 1769 Media Paint, Oil paint, Canvas | |
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Dimensions 93.8 cm × 73.8 cm (36.9 in × 29.1 in) Location Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona Similar Jean-Honoré Fragonard artwork, Artwork at Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya | ||
The Jean-Claude Richard, Abbot of Saint-Non, Dressed à l'Espagnole is a painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard conserved at the National Art Museum of Catalonia.
Description
The knight, with his arrogant pose, is sitting beside a fountain in which his horse is drinking. He is dressed à l'espagnole, an expression which in eighteenth-century France was used to refer to picturesque or fancy attire, and had no bearing on the Spanish fashions of the time. In fact, dress a l'espagnole was inspired by French fashions from the time of Henry IV and Louis XIII. The picture is a work from the artist's youth, painted on a trip he made to Italy with his friend and patron Jean-Claude Richard. Fragonard was one of the last representatives of rococo art and this work shows his most characteristic style: touches of light material known as 'virtuosity of speed'.