Blindman's Buff (Le Colin-Maillard)

Jean-Honore Fragonard

1732-1806
Blindman's Buff (Le Colin-Maillard)
ca. 1775-80
Oil on canvas
24-5/8 x 17-3/4 in.

Fragonard worked in the studio of François Boucher, who painted Lovers in a Park. Although he was accepted into the French Academy, he declined to pursue a public career as a history painter. Preferring instead to work for private clients,

Fragonard developed a style that lauded the charm and beauty of the private moments of the French aristocracy. In Blindman's Buff, well-dressed men, women, and children play the familiar game in the kind of picturesque overgrown garden that was popular with the aristocracy. This and similar lighthearted amusements were among Fragonard's favorite subjects, and he may have viewed the games as symbolizing the game of courtship.

Provenance:

Hippolyte Walferdin, Paris, his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, April 3, 1880, lot 12 [2]
Bought by Beurnonville, Paris
Camille Groult, Paris, by 1889
Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1954
Acquired by the Putnam Foundation, 1955

Provenance Notes:

[1] Despite some disagreement over its precise date, it is generally assumed that Blindman’s Buff was painted after the artist’s second journey to Italy in 1773–74. Fragonard’s most recent cataloguers (Cuzin 1988 and Rosenberg 1989) date the painting to ca. 1773 (?) and 1775–80, respectively.

[2] The early history of the Timken’s Fragonard is unknown. During the 1770s and 1780s, Fragonard’s cabinet paintings appeared frequently on the art market, and sometimes a single painting changed hands several times over the course of a few years. Blindman’s Buff was first recorded in the collection of Hippolyte Walferdin, who formed a celebrated collection of works by Fragonard.