Where is A Young Girl Reading displayed?

This Rococo work by Fragonard is at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Who was the girl in the painting?

The model's identity is unknown. Fragonard often painted figures as types rather than specific portraits, focusing on mood and atmosphere.

What style is A Young Girl Reading?

The painting exemplifies the Rococo style: intimate scale, pastel colors, loose brushwork, and a focus on pleasure and refinement.

Where Is A Young Girl Reading? Museum Location

French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard painted this intimate portrait around 1770, capturing a young woman absorbed in her book. She wears a lemon-yellow dress with purple ribbons, her profile illuminated by soft light. The identity of the sitter is unknown.

Fragonard was the master of Rococo painting, and this work shows his virtuoso brushwork at its best. The buttery strokes of yellow paint, the feathery treatment of the collar, and the soft modeling of the face reveal an artist painting with complete freedom and confidence.

It is one of the most beloved works at the National Gallery of Art and exemplifies the refined sensibility of 18th-century French painting.

A Young Girl Reading

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Where to See It

The Artist

More by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Aurora Triumphing over Night

The Bathers

The Happy Lovers

The Birth of Venus

Also at National Gallery of Art

Gian Federico Madruzzo Oil Canvas Giovanni Battista[1]

Dancer in pink dress

Holy Family

The Harbor at Lorient

Related Rococo Works

The Blue Boy

Pilgrimage to Cythera

Diana Leaving the Bath

Mrs. Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Reclining Girl

Pierrot (Gilles)

Portrait of Omai

Self-Portrait in a Straw Hat

About A Young Girl Reading

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