Dramatic Scene with Monks in a Crypt
Alexandre Evariste Fragonard
Date unknown · Oil on canvas · European Paintings
In this scene evocative of the Middle Ages, monks process into a Gothic crypt bearing a corpse in an open casket. At the moment they enter the stagelike space, their brethren, having opened a tomb to receive the body, discover that it is already occupied, sparking a dramatic stir. The precise literary source for this composition, believed to date to the 1820s, continues to elude scholars, but the ghoulish scenario was a staple for Fragonard and his contemporaries. The painter is today overshadowed by his father, Jean Honoré Fragonard, but he was one of the most versatile and sought-after artists of his generation.
- Artist
- Alexandre Evariste Fragonard
- Date
- Date unknown
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Department
- European Paintings
- Credit line
- The Whitney Collection, Gift of Wheelock Whitney III, and Purchase, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles S. McVeigh, by exchange, 2003
