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Paintings in the Collection of Henry Clay Frick, 1915 [page 111]

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The five principal pictures are as follows: 1. THE PURSUIT (La Poursuite). The heroine, with outstretched arms, runs away from her admirer, who offers her a rose. Her companions try to hold her. 2. THE MEETING (Le Rendezvous). The heroine sits on the grass by a statue. Her lover climbs the wall by means of a ladder. She looks over her shoulder as though fearing she might be seen. Fragonard has given the pair the features of Mme. du Barry and her royal gallant, though much rejuvenated in both cases. 3. MEMORIES (Les Souvenirs). The heroine sits on a stone pedestal in a park, looking over old letters. Her lover stands by her, his arm around her waist. 4. THE LOVER CROWNED (L'Amant Couronné). The couple pose for a painter. The lover sits at his mistress's feet, and she holds over his head a crown of flowers. Portalis says in his book on Fragonard, published in 1889: "This canvas is pictorially the splendid climax of all that has gone before. It shows the official triumph of love following upon the more intimate, the truer triumph that has preceded it The colors in the paintings which open the series have, for all their exquisiteness, been tempered by a certain moderation. Here they burst forth in full splendor, in full passion, making together a bold and ringing harmony breathing forth a very pæan of victory." 5. THE ABANDONMENT (L'Abandon). This, the final scene of the series, takes place in a garden in autumn. The heroine is seated alone at the foot of a column surmounted by a sun-dial fashioned as a Cupid sitting on the world. In addition, there are nine minor designs, meant as subsidiary to the general theme, which complete the unity of the scheme of decoration. 111

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