Illustration to Don Quixote

Fragonard, Jean-Honore

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Jean-Honoré Fragonard. The drawing shows a man standing facing towards the viewer and a woman walking towards him on the right with her arms raised. The man is walking towards the left with his right foot forwards and his right hand is against the wall of the interior they are in. He has his left hand on his hip and a sword is slipped through his belt on the right side. He is wearing a large hat with a feather. The woman has her back to the viewer. She is wearing a bodice with large sleeves and a skirt. There are two dogs on the left and another looking up at the woman on the right. A boy is crouching down in the background behind the man. Text in the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 33 JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD (b. 1732; d. 1806) ILLUSTRATION TO DON QUIXOTE British Museum, 1907-11-6-1. Pen outline over black chalk with sepia wash. 41.2 x 28.4 cm. (16 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.). Belongs to the same series as the drawing of the Burning of the Books reproduced in Part V. No 38. The scene, however, is not so easily identified. Prof. Fitzmaurice Kelly suggests that it may possibly be from Bk. I, Chap. III, where the Don is knighted by the innkeeper and belted by one of the wenches. The jeering children in the background, however, equally suggest the scene in the streets of Barcelona, where Don Quixote went abroad (on a mule, it is true), with his name on a parchment label pinned to his back, so that 'the very boys of this city, who have never seen me before, know me'. (Part II. Chap. LXII.)"