Bradamante Tries to Catch Hold of the Hippogryph c. 1780s

Editor: This drawing, "Bradamante Tries to Catch Hold of the Hippogryph" by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, dates from the 1780s. It’s executed in what looks like pencil on toned paper, and it has this really energetic, almost frenetic feel. What grabs your attention most about it? Curator: It’s precisely that "frenetic feel" achieved through what appears to be rapid, repetitive strokes that interests me. The visible labor is paramount. What kind of pencil did he use? What paper, and from which workshop? Where were they manufactured? This was a time of shifting markets, artisanal workshops were changing...and those materials would directly shape the artist’s options. The drawing exists because of these materials. Editor: That's a good point! The material context really shaped the work. So, the choice of toned paper—would that have been for practical reasons, or an aesthetic decision influenced by, say, the cost of pigments? Curator: I suspect it’s intimately connected. Perhaps the artist needed to conserve the usage of precious materials and labor, since, unlike painting, drawing involves mostly artisanal skills but low capital investment? How does that relative ease impact the social value projected by drawings? Editor: I see... By using readily available and cheap materials, Fragonard challenges conventional expectations of labor input vs output in art. So it makes me wonder, why even depict a subject like Bradamante? Is he elevating craft into “high” art, or subverting heroic narratives? Curator: An excellent question. Perhaps both simultaneously, if you think about it... Thank you, I now see Fragonard's position in the field of art production and display a little more clearly. Editor: Yes, I’ve started to appreciate the artfulness with which an artwork’s materials become the foundation to challenge hierarchical assumptions!