Kop van een meisje met een haarband c. 1765 - 1775

Jean-Honoré Fragonard created this sketch, "Kop van een meisje met een haarband" or "Head of a Girl with a Hairband," using graphite on paper. The drawing displays a softness and delicacy, achieved through light, feathery strokes that barely seem to touch the surface. The composition centers on the subject's face, framed loosely by the suggestion of hair and a hairband. Fragonard's technique here embodies the Rococo interest in capturing fleeting moments and impressions. The sketch's incomplete nature invites the viewer to participate in the act of imagining, highlighting the artwork’s semiotic potential. The lines function almost as suggestions rather than definitive contours. The sketch destabilizes the traditional portrait by focusing on gesture and expression rather than precise likeness. Notice how this drawing, despite its simplicity, conveys a sense of movement and vitality. Fragonard’s formal choices invite us to consider how even the simplest of forms can engage with larger questions of representation, perception, and the nature of artistic creation.