Field: Art History
Title of research project: The Nature of Womanhood: Representations of Eighteenth-Century Mothers
and Children in Revolutionary France
Research Proposal
ABSTRACT
Upon the completion of my second year of coursework at the University of Iowa, I will travel to
Paris to conduct preliminary research at the Louvre Museum and its historical archives for my
Ph.D. dissertation in eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French art history. My four-week
research project will analyze the shifting ideals of the “happy mother” and her family as
represented in the artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard’s genre paintings, portraits, and drawings during
the revolutionary period in France. As one of the most important French artists of the eighteenth
century, over 100 drawings and paintings attributed to Fragonard are preserved in the Louvre’s
permanent collection. However, approximately one-third of Fragonard’s figural black and white
chalk drawings and small-scale paintings are not publically displayed, have not been fully
analyzed in modern scholarship, and are not readily accessible by way of printed or highresolution digital reproductions. Consequently, the nuanced expressions, spatial relationships,
and gestures of the figures in drawings such as "The Wrapped-Up Cat" and "Young Woman
Playing with a Child" are nearly impossible to interpret unless directly examined.
The vast holdings of eighteenth-century French drawings and paintings in the Louvre will allow
for a direct comparison of Fragonard’s representations of women and children to those of his
contemporaries such as Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, and Marguerite
Gérard. A direct visual comparison of Fragonard’s artworks to these artists’ genre paintings,
portraits, and drawings will contribute to a better historical contextualization of the fluctuating
representations womanhood and the family as French society debated the role of women in the
new political order that privileged patriarchal control and dominance.
MAIN RESEARCH PROBLEMS
My initial study of Fragonard’s imagery suggests that the artist did not always fully embrace the
ideal of the sweetly submissive “happy mother” and her family as modern scholarship has
proposed. My own critical readings of earlier scholars’ interpretations of Fragonard’s
representations of women and children have led to several fundamental research questions that
will form the foundation of my dissertation argument. Most significantly, why do Fragonard’s
images portray a degree of ambiguity in terms of the social role and identity of women? For
instance, Fragonard’s "The Good Mother" from the late 1770s depicts a woman seated in a fertile
and secluded garden with her young children. While the woman’s hand rests on the head of her
child, she slyly looks to an Angora cat, a well-known symbol of female sexuality, that nuzzles
against her neck. Her pose, gesture, and expression all suggest an irreconcilable tension between
sexual independence and domestic subjugation according to the “natural” feminine duty as
advocated by moralizing Enlightenment writers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau. One goal of my
study at the Louvre will be to test this thesis as I examine and interpret the subjects of
Fragonard’s artworks and compare them to the ways in which Fragonard’s contemporaries
represented new definitions of womanhood and the modern family unit.
A direct comparison of Fragonard’s representations of women and children to those of his
contemporaries will enable me to widen the historical scope of my project. A contextualization
of Fragonard’s imagery will begin to clarify the following questions: What is the meaning of
“motherhood” or “acting motherly” and does it extend beyond the family? What is the role of
nature in the education of women and children? Since my project focuses upon the subjects and
subtle compositional details of Fragonard’s paintings and drawings that are rarely published, it is
crucial for me to study the artworks directly to begin to broaden the conventional understanding
of Fragonard’s representations of women and children. It is also essential for me to study the
unpublished dossiers of each artwork that are preserved in the Louvre archives to avoid isolating
the imagery from its historical context. A study of these historical documents will determine for
what reasons the artworks were produced and for whom they were created.
METHODS AND APPROACHES
I will conduct research for this project through an investigation of archival documents and close
examinations of Fragonard’s paintings and drawings that represent women and children. A direct
study of Fragonard’s artworks will allow for a more accurate interpretation of the artist’s use of
line, scale, the effects of lighting within the compositions, and attention to detail in terms of the
expressions, gestures, and interactions of the figures. Because of the Louvre’s comprehensive
collection of eighteenth-century French artworks, I will be able to make more significant
comparisons that will contribute to a more thorough historical analysis.
To prepare linguistically for my graduate research in France, I completed an intensive
introductory French course at American University in the summer of 2008. In 2010, I
successfully passed a French reading translation exam as required by the art history department
at the University of Florida for all M.A. candidates. While in residence at the University of Iowa,
I regularly read French art historical texts and listen to French language podcasts to maintain my
proficiency. I have satisfactory oral communication skills in French, and I am able to adequately
communicate with professionals and colleagues in French museums and archives. My Ph.D.
coursework at Iowa has academically prepared me to begin preliminary dissertation research at
the Louvre. My term papers have explored the representation of femininity and the family in
revolutionary France, and I have critically studied the key scholarly sources that address
questions of gender identity in late eighteenth-century French art.
DETAILED PLAN OF RESEARCH
I will spend four weeks at the Louvre in Paris to document and analyze the museum’s extensive
collection of Fragonard’s artworks and compare them to those of the artist’s contemporaries.
Because of the technical fragility of the drawings preserved in the Louvre’s “Cabinet des
dessins,” the most critical materials for my study are not publically displayed. However, visual
materials in storage are made available upon request for scholars with advance appointments.
“Le départment des Arts graphiques” and “le département des Peintures” of the Louvre contain
complete archives with primary sources that include the artworks’ historical profiles as well as
secondary materials on the subjects. Each department has open access to all scholars as long as
appointments are scheduled in advance. During this time, I will specifically study and catalogue
all of Fragonard’s representations of women and children to uncover the ways in which the
figures are represented in space, the significance of the figures’ costumes as indicators of
identity, and the importance of domestic versus outdoor settings as expressions of a woman’s
"natural place” in society. I will also examine and document the interactions between the
women, children, and even animals to understand the significance of the relationships between
these represented groups. These artworks are visual primary documents, and a direct
investigation of the compositional details will determine how and why Fragonard’s artworks
exemplify and undermine Enlightenment social ideals at once. My visual analyses will begin to
demonstrate the idea that the ambiguity in the representation of feminine identity points to the
complex definition of womanhood during this period of increasing social and political instability.
The Stanley Graduate Award will give me the opportunity to develop the foundational research
that will form the basis of my Ph.D. dissertation and will provide me with the written and visual
archival materials required for my dissertation proposal, which I will submit to my Ph.D
committee in the fall of 2013.