Fragonard: A New Angle at Éric Coatalem

In late 2019, shortly before the pandemic, the Éric Coatalem Gallery devoted a temporary display to 17th-century French still lifes. "The gallery was packed every day," the dealer says happily. "It was a delight and a joy to discover that visitors liked to observe and even knew the works. There was a lot of discussion and interest. So I decided that once every 18 months, I would try to show a leading 18th-century artist—Greuze, Boucher , Vigée Le Brun among others. For the second event (following "Hubert Robert: From Rome to Paris", in 2021), the spotlight is on Fragonard , represented by some 50 works, 45 being loans from private collectors. Only five works are for sale. Nineteen collectors agreed to lend their treasures, mostly from London, Madrid, Brussels, Switzerland and the US. Some paintings, jealously guarded by their owners, have not been seen for half a century and not even shown in their respective countries. Convincing the lenders was not the most difficult part, as they usually agreed instantly. But finding them and contacting them was "a lengthy but fascinating…