Attributed to Jean-Honoré FRAGONARD (1732-1806) The... Lot 49

Attributed to Jean-Honoré FRAGONARD (1732-1806) The toilet of Venus Oil on canvas, lined 60 x 40 cm Provenance : Former collection Léon Michel-Lévy His sale in Paris, June 17-18, 1925, n° 140 (as Fragonard) "Study for a larger painting that was part of the Barroilhet collection, sale in Paris on March 15-16, 1872, n° 9 of the catalog (72 x 49 cm). This study seems to us to have been taken over later by another hand. Exhibition: 1907, Paris, Chardin - Fragonard. n° 105, Illustrated catalog of MM. A.Dayot and L.Vaillat, 1907, p. 105 (as Fragonard) Bibliography : Louis Réau, Fragonard, 1958, p. 147, quoted as "Study for the painting in the Barroilhel sale" Georges Wildenstein, Les peintures de J.H. Fragonard, London, 1960, p. 270, n° 314, "...a study(?) of this painting (n° 314) was sold at the L. Michel-Levy sale, June 17-18, 1925, n° 140, bought by the Countess de Gontaut-Biron ". Jacques Wilhelm, 1960, p. 93 G.Mandel, Fragonard, L'opera completa, 1972, n° 335A (as Fragonard) " Un dipinto di tema analogo (au 335) forse anche bozzetto preparatorio " Jean Pierre Cuzin, J.H. Fragonard. Life and works, complete catalog of paintings. Paris, 1987. No. 161, repr. (as Fragonard) Pierre Rosenberg, Tout l'oeuvre peint de Fragonard, Paris, 1989, n° 258, repr. (as Fragonard)