The faces of Fragonard

Of all the perfumeries of Grasse, Fragonard is the one which visitors usually find first, because of its prominent site near the western entrance to the old town:

But all is not quite as it seems - the perfumery Fragonard has nothing other than the name to do with the famous painter, although he was indeed a native of Grasse.

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

The son of a prominent glover in the town, Jean-Honoré reached the heights of court painter to Louis XVI. More importantly, he's now regarded as one of the world's great artists.

There's a plaque commemorating his birth in April 1732 at 23 Rue Tracastel, not far from today's perfumery. He went to Paris and then to Rome, eventually making his fortune in and around the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI. When the Revolution came, however, he found refuge back in his home town, living in a house owned by his cousin which is now known as the Villa Musée Fragonard. After a year or two, no doubt feeling a little safer under Napoleon, he returned to Paris, where he died in 1806.

Honoré Fragonard

But there were two eminent Fragonards from Grasse. Jean-Honoré's first cousin's name was Honoré and he was born in Grasse only two months after Jean-Honoré. Honoré, not to be confused with Jean-Honoré, was the leading anatomist of his time.

Birthplace of Honoré Fragonard, Place aux Herbes

His birthplace was only 300 metres away from that of his cousin. After studying surgery, in 1762 he joined the world's first veterinary school in Lyon and became its first professor of anatomy.

He produced rather alarming figures known as écorchés (flayed), to the extent that he was expelled from the school in 1771 as mentally unbalanced! Some survive in a museum, Musée Fragonard d'Alfort, in the suburbs of Paris. He died in 1799.

There's even a novel (in French) about him, called Le Cousin de Fragonard by Patrick Roegiers.

As you can see below, it's not too difficult to distinguish their respective work. Jean-Honoré's painting adorns chocolate boxes all over the world, despite this one being a quite outrageous example of upskirting:

J H Fragonard: The Swing ('L'escarpolette'), in a remarkably large frame for a small painting, in the Wallace Collection, London

whereas Honoré's, perhaps not surprisingly, generally doesn't!

Écorché of a horse and his rider by Honoré Fragonard, Musée Fragonard d'Alfort

To add to the possible confusion, Jean-Honoré is commemorated by a monument in front of the Musee International de la Parfumerie.

At least, it shows a painter and displays Jean-Honoré's dates (1732-1806), but the inscription clearly says 'Honoré', as you can see here.

Traces of Fragonard

Honoré left Grasse for Lyon in 1762 never to return, and there is no trace left of him here, other than a plaque marking his birthplace.

Jean-Honoré on the other hand is quite well represented, considering that he was apprenticed in Paris and only came back to Grasse in 1790 as a refugee from the Revolution.

JH Fragonard: ‘Jeune fille délivrant un oiseau de sa cage' (Musee Fragonard, Costa Collection)

The largest number of his works locally are in the Musée Jean-Honoré Fragonard on rue Ossola. The perfumier Jean-Francois Costa made a collection of over twenty of his works, and they're free to view when the museum is open.

Perhaps the most recognisable is another chocolate box image, 'Young girl freeing a bird from its cage', painted in 1773 in the 'rococo' style. But there are some paintings which one wouldn't necessarily recognise as by Fragonard, and one of the painter himself made by his sister-in-law, Marguerite Gérard. She was a fine artist in her own right and some of her other works can be seen in an adjacent room.

Then there's what's generally described as his only (surviving?) religious work, 'Jesus washing the feet of the apostles' in the cathedral. It was painted in 1755 when he was only 23. It's not helped by poor lighting, but maybe it's best he stuck to secular works. The joie de vivre so evident in Fragonard's work for his Parisian patrons is entirely missing.

Finally, there's the confusingly named Villa Musée Fragonard on bd Fragonard on the far side of the Jardins Publique from the old town.  This house, owned by his cousin Alexandre Maubert, was where Fragonard took refuge in 1790 - as a court painter, he wasn't too popular with the Paris revolutionaries.

Only one or two small paintings of his remain there. The important ones, notably a sequence known as 'The Progress of Love' were sold off well before the Great War and are now in the Frick Museum in New York. But the walls of the entrance hall and staircase are covered with drawings of revolutionary symbols and figures which are believed to be by Jean-Honoré (although possibly they are by his son Alexandre).

On a visit there, I was treated to a description of the symbols and their revolutionary meaning by a knowledgeable local guide, Gilles Burois. Given his history and age (he was nearly 60 in 1790) it must have been difficult for Fragonard to adapt to revolutionary times and notions.

'Here in the square nicknamed the Clavecin ('Harpsichord'), 30 people condemned to death by the Var tribunal sitting in Grasse were guillotined from 1793 to 1794'

But a guillotine operated on the Cours less than 200 metres from Maubert’s house........so maybe needs must.

Fuchs perfume?

What's all this got to do with the Fragonard perfumery? Actually, not a lot!

The original perfumery on the site was built around 1800 by the Fargeon family, and the premises were enlarged in the 1840s by Claude Mottet: both are historic names in Grasse.  In 1900, the perfumery changed its name to Cresp-Martinenq, but it went bust in 1925, after which it was bought by a Parisian lawyer and perfume enthusiast named Eugène Fuchs. Eugène's idea was to to make perfume for sale to tourists, and it seems he decided that his real name didn’t have quite the right ‘ring’ to it for a French and traditional consumer business. So he changed its name to Fragonard.  No doubt he had the painter in mind, not the anatomist!

To be serious, he made a really good job of it. He was succeeded by his son-in-law and then by his grandson, Jean-François Costa, who build up the family collection of Fragonard paintings. 

The business is still family-managed. In recent years, the Costa sisters, daughters of Jean-Francois and great-granddaughters of Eugène, have expanded the business hugely, and Fragonard shops are to be found not only in Grasse but also in Paris, St Paul-de-Vence, St Tropez, Nice, Aix-en-Provence, Arles, Avignon, Cannes, Marseilles and even outside France, in Milan.  It's one of the many perfume-originated businesses still very successful in Grasse.