DISCOVERART

Jean Honoré Fragonard

The Armoire

1778
Etching on ivory laid paper
34.2 × 46.1 cm (13.5 × 18.1 in)

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In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026

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FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

The Rococo taste for narrative led the great painter and printmaker Jean-Honoré Fragonard to devote his largest etching to a risqué domestic drama. A young woman and her paramour have been interrupted in a compromising position by her parents. The rumpled state of the bedclothes alone would have roused their ire, but they have also discovered the young man hiding in their daughter’s closet. The mortified young man’s strategically positioned hat leaves both the parents and viewers in little doubt of his dishonorable intentions. The girl stands barefoot and weeping in the corner out of modesty and fear, unable to meet her furious parents’ gaze.

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