Around 1765 -1785 · Portrait, fantasy and rococo childhood

Fragonard paints young girls with a lively and warm touch, attentive to play, to the familiar animal, to the gaze and to the fragile passage of childhood.

In Fragonard's portraits and genre scenes, young girls appear less as frozen models than as presences captured in full movement. A dog snuggles up against a dress, a marmot becomes a playmate, a bird leaves its cage or a figure leans on a window sill. These motifs combine domestic tenderness, moral allusion and freedom of imagination. The painter works quickly, with warm glazes and supple brushstrokes that sometimes melt fingers, fabrics and hair. This mobility allows the face to remain precise while letting the rest of the composition breathe. Some young girls can be portraits; others relate to the fantasy figure or sentimental image intended for a private practice. In all cases, accessories, animals and gestures extend the character of the model without reducing the scene to a single explanation. The selection "Young girls of Jean-Honoré Fragonard" notably compares Young girl with a dog - Jean-Honoré Fragonard and Young Girl with a Groundhog - Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Its reading favors the story.

In Fragonard, childhood is held in a movement: a hand opens, an animal comes closer and touches it short with the gaze.