The Husband-Confessor

Jean Honoré Fragonard

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The salacious Tales of Jean de La Fontaine enjoyed great popularity in eighteenth-century France. Fragonard illustrated them in various series and versions over many years. While a few were eventually engraved, his drawings, which perfectly capture the gallantry and humor of the well-known stories, also appealed to collectors. This delicate drawing illustrates one of the famous Tales of Jean de La Fontaine. In a careful technique, emphasizing legibility over spontaneity, Fragonard describes an elegant salon. The knight Artus returns from war to find his wife surrounded by admirers, his expression far from pleased.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art