Work in Progress, Day 8.This painting is an interpretation of the original oil on canvas painted by Jean-Honore Fragonard that is on display at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.
There were three curiosities for this study. The first involved lightening the mood of the picture itself, and one of the easiest ways was to enhance the greenish/brownish background by introducing a light source, the window. The landscape within the window is based on a style from another French painter of the period,, whose work which happened to be hanging on the wall next to Fragonard’s work.
The second curiosity involved replacing the red-brownish shades in the yellow dress with the complement of yellow – purple. What drove the intensity and usage of purple was the reaction from the gallery audience. As the paint was being laid down in varying ways, the reaction from the audience drove the final result and effect achieved – the highlights of the dress became more pronounced.
The last curiosity was to finish the painting itself. If you look closely at Fragonard’s work, you will see that it indeed is unfinished. The most obvious unfinished aspects are the dress itself from the left elbow draping down. The furniture the figure is seated upon had a rail that appeared to stretch to infinity. This structure was replaced by a chair containing a back that can be seen against the wall on the right. The handrail was made finite. . Next came the hands, especially the right hand that was simply a rough colored outline. This would not do given the detail with which the face had been done. Hence, the hand was finished and along with it, the book. Notice that the scribble has been replaced with a story.
If you look further between the two works, you will see additional smaller modifications that were introduced where they made sense.