Koppen van een man met een baard en muts c. 1765 - 1775

Curator: Welcome. Before us we have Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s “Heads of a Man with a Beard and Cap”, a pencil and colored pencil drawing on paper, dating from around 1765-1775. It’s currently held at the Rijksmuseum. Editor: The initial impression I get is a certain fleeting quality. The sketch is ephemeral, a whisper of a man rather than a fully realized portrait. There's something vulnerable about it. Curator: Indeed. As a study, its symbolism is fascinating. The head, a common motif throughout art history, serves as a focal point of identity and character. Repeated, as we see here, it suggests perhaps an exploration of varied personas or states of being. What resonance does that hold for you? Editor: The repetition does it for me. It invites questions about identity, especially masculinity within the Rococo period. Were these studies for a character in a play, or simply a rumination on masculinity? Given the era's constraints on male emotional expression, it speaks volumes. I wonder what the constraints mean historically as well. Curator: Fragonard was certainly a master of capturing emotion, even in sketch form. The pencil strokes themselves convey a sense of movement and vitality. This, in the broader sense of portraits, carries forth certain elements that we continue to consider regarding the cultural perception and value of public male figures. Editor: It highlights the performative aspect of identity too. A “man with a beard and cap” – already signaling certain social roles and expectations. To see these elements deconstructed in a study allows for critique, doesn't it? It feels almost subversive for its time, quietly questioning prescribed roles. Curator: Rococo, despite its surface of playful frivolity, often concealed deeper examinations of societal norms and individual experience. Here we perceive it under the male gaze, where art can either represent authority, or reveal identity. In this instance, maybe Fragonard invites us to ask what is the significance of a bearded man in a cap during a certain age. Editor: Absolutely, and to consider that invitation is a victory of art history and contemporary social inquiry intersecting here in a single drawing. Curator: Indeed. Art gives continuity to the cultural norms of our time. This drawing serves as a poignant reminder of both what has changed and what remains, prompting reflection long after we move on.