Artwork
The Satyr's Family (La famille du satyre)
The Satyr's Family (La famille du satyre) is an ink print by the Romanticist artist Jean Honoré Fragonard. It dates from 1763 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Jean‑Honoré Fragonard’s etching *La famille du satyre* dates from 1763.
About this work
Overview
Jean‑Honoré Fragonard’s etching *La famille du satyre* dates from 1763. Executed as a single‑plate print, it presents a mythological tableau set within a craggy cavern. The composition centers on a satyr family—male, female and children—arranged amid tangled foliage and rough stone. The work exemplifies Fragonard’s interest in lively, genre‑like scenes drawn from classical sources.
Subject & Meaning
The surrounding vines and trees suggest a natural, untamed environment, reinforcing the creature’s rustic, semi‑wild character.
The image depicts a satyr patriarch, identifiable by his curled horns and shaggy beard, cradling an infant while his partner, with flowing hair, sits beside another child. The surrounding vines and trees suggest a natural, untamed environment, reinforcing the creature’s rustic, semi‑wild character. The grouping hints at domesticity within the mythic realm, offering a playful contrast between the savage and the familial.
Technique & Style
Fragonard employs the etching process, incising fine, decisive lines that render the texture of fur, bark and rock. Cross‑hatching creates depth in the cavern walls, while the crisp outlines emphasize the figures’ musculature and the foliage’s density. The overall effect balances vigorous movement with a slightly unfinished edge, characteristic of the artist’s fluid hand in printmaking.
History & Provenance
Created in the mid‑eighteenth century, the print reflects Fragonard’s early exploration of mythological subjects before his later Rococo fame. While specific ownership records are scarce, the work is catalogued among his printed oeuvre and has appeared in several scholarly inventories of French Enlightenment prints, confirming its attribution and dating to 1763.
Artist & collection
Artist
Jean-Honoré Fragonard was born on 5 April 1732 in Grasse, the son of a glover, and moved with his family to Paris in 1738.
