An unknown painting by Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), Young Girl with a Hat, was sold for 3.2 million euros at auction on Thursday in Paris, announced the Boisgirard-Antonini auction house, which organized the sale at the Drouot Hotel. Estimated between 400,000 and 600,000 euros, this painting has been kept in the same family since the 18th century. “This discovery illustrates a fabulous story which makes it possible to reconstitute a collection, to bring together paintings which have been separated since the end of the 19th century and to delve deeper into the work of an artist and his relationships with his patrons,” specifies a press release. of the auction house.
The painting, in an oval shape measuring 52 by 42.5 cm, comes from the same collection as the Reading Philosopher, that of Dominique Magaud (1722-1806), deputy to the Estates General, Justice of the Peace, King’s prosecutor and deputy for Puy. of Dome. Discovered in 2021 after being lost for more than two centuries, the painting sold for more than seven million euros in Épernay (northeast of France) immediately.
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The Girl with a Hat, probably painted between 1770 and 1775, represents a young girl wearing a wide-brimmed hat. It is oval in shape, a popular format among painters of this century. Jean-Honoré Fragonard is a libertine painter from the court of Louis XV, specialist in the gallant scenes which made him famous. He is considered one of the leading painters of frivolity and rococo.
