"What's in a name...?"

...well, in Shakespeare's opinion, it's a mere artificial and meaningless convention, but if the name happens to be "Fragonard", it turns out you have at least three very distinct worlds to enter.

First off, there is the world of Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), a French painter, who produced over 550 paintings in a late Rococo style. He was born in Grasse, in the Alpes-Maritimes, and took up work for a Paris notary as a way to help the family finances. His first love, though, was art, and he soon found himself studying under the great luminist, Chardin, in his atelier.

 He was later accepted into the studio of François Boucher, and quickly acquired the Rococo style of the Master. Winner of the Prix du Rome in 1752, Fragonard spent some time in Italy, with the painter Hubert Robert. Here, he fell in love with the sumptuous gardens, grottoes, fountains and temples.

With Coresus et Callirhoe, Fragonard gained admission to the Academy.  Louis XV was so enamored of the painting, he ordered that it be reproduced as a tapestry at the Gobelins factory!

Now in demand by the wealthy, pleasure loving members of Louis' court, Fragonard produced works full of romance, exuberance, and intrigue. In The Swing, he shows a young woman being pushed on a swing by her husband, kicking her legs up into the air. The other young man (her lover), hiding behind the bushes, is well placed to peek under her skirts!

With the advent of the French Revolution, Jean-Honoré Fragonard's aristocratic patrons were either guillotined or exiled. He sought refuge himself, back in his home town of Grasse. He did return to Paris in the early 19th century, but died virtually unknown in 1806. For the next fifty years or so, he was completely forgotten. Eventually, his reputation reemerged as one of the all-time masters of French painting. His grand-niece, Berthe Morisot is said to have been influenced by his use of color and his brushwork. And in 2013, a portrait he made of François-Henri duc d'Harcourt from 1769 sold at Bonham's in London for over 28 million dollars! Somewhere, Monsieur J-H Fragonard must be shaking his head!

And now to the second Fragonard -- Honoré Fragonard (1732-1799) -- whose world is so very different, and yet whose family roots are closely tied to the painter Jean-Honoré. They were first cousins, born the same year, and both born in the town of Grasse. However, Honoré Fragonard was not a painter, although some might call him an artist. He trained to be a surgeon, joining the world's first veterinary school in Lyons in 1762 as a professor of anatomy.  Later, Louis XV moved the school to Paris and it eventually settled into a sprawling campus at Maisons d'Alfort, on the outskirts of Paris, where Fragonard was named director. It still functions today as L'École nationale veterinaire d'Alfort, training students, pursuing research, and, yes, treating animals -- large and small! On learning that there's a museum attached to the school, we decided to go check it out.

Founded alongside the veterinary school in 1766, and growing out of the "cabinet du Roi", the Musée Fragonard is one of the oldest museums in France. It has survived wars and revolutions, and although it may not be on everyone's top ten list of must-see museums, as someone who worked at CalAcademy for eighteen years, it immediately appealed to me!

For 250 years it has housed some 4000 specimens devoted to anatomy and teratology, articulated animal skeletons, and to disease and pathology -- a veritable cabinet of curiosities!

There's a lot of emphasis on horses, who were the principal form of transportation in the 18th century, whether you were riding on horseback or being conveyed in a horse-drawn carriage. So, many displays of horse skulls...

...and horses' teeth, by which early veterinary students could learn how to read the animal's age.

Other animals are also displayed, I got a laugh at this sharp-toothed crocodile jaw, seemingly laughing at the world!

There were a few human skulls and one complete human skeleton.

But just as a reminder that we humans are pretty insignificant in the larger order of things, there's a whole room devoted to full skeletons of an array of creatures, big and small, camels, elephants, rhinoceroses, lions and small dogs. Not a human in sight.

A separate room focusses on "anomalies", like this two-headed sheep. Another showed a horse with one central eye, like a Cyclops, and chicken skulls the size of basketballs. There was also a display of a ten-legged sheep preserved in a jar of formaldehyde. I'll spare you that image, but I did wonder if Damien Hirst has ever been to this museum!

And then there was this sight of a horse's spine, twisted with scoliosis. Sad to look at it, although I imagine it was a useful teaching tool for those 18th/19th century students who didn't have the advantage of modern computer modelling of the world of anatomy.

At the far end of the museum, in a climate controlled, dimly-lit room are the oldest and most valued specimens, all centered around the work of Honoré Fragonard himself. Early on in his anatomy career, he became immersed in the process of mummification of specimens, called "les écorches" in French. To say that these displays are grisly would be a big understatement! The Cabinet of Curiosities had become the Chamber of Horrors.  I'll just share this one of a llama, skin removed, but muscles and veins visible and even flexed. Like I said, grisly! In fact, Fragonard devoted so much time to this unique form of anatomy, and in some cases, presented his specimens in such wild, dramatic poses, that he was deemed to be a madman, and in 1771 was dismissed from the School. However, it seems that having an "écorche" in your home had become quite the rage, so for a while he was able to make a good living for himself producing more of these flayed creatures. Some people even considered it a true art form, although I'm not sure his cousin, Jean-Honoré would have agreed!

As it turns out, however, the Fragonard Museum at the veterinary school is not the only museum in Paris with the name "Fragonard" attached to it. Tucked off the bustling streets around the Opera, is the entrance to the Musée Parfum Fragonard. Free guided tours are offered and, curious to know more, we happily tagged along with a group of French visitors.

The building itself used to be a theatre, the Éden Theatre, known as quite the showplace with large halls and rooms, its design inspired by Egyptian and Indian architecture, which were in fashion at the time. Later in the 19th century, however, the theatre was forced to close, and was partly destroyed. Later still, it was converted into a place where Parisians could learn how to cycle on a rotating cycling carousel. I love the idea that you could practice your cycling skills indoors before venturing out into the noisy, dangerous streets!

Meanwhile down south, in the town of Grasse, shortly before WWI, an entrepreneur named Eugène Fuchs, who had already been seduced by the magic of perfume, decided to set up his own perfumery and sell the products directly to the tourists who were beginning to discover the French Rivera's charms. Parfumerie Fragonard was opened in 1926. Fuchs chose to name it after our famous Grasse-born painter, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, as a tribute both to the town of Grasse, and to the refinement of 18th century arts.

Through three succeeding generations, the company has grown and flourished, expanding  finally to Paris. Along the way, the family amassed a unique collection of antique perfume related items that form the backbone of the museum

These include utilitarian items like this small vat and still...

...and this stuffed civet cat, whose glands were apparently an important ingredient in the early years of the process!

A vast underground room had displays of large vats and pipes, funnels, flasks and several screens showing old black and white photographs of the journey the raw flowers go through in their transformation from petals and stems to expensive perfume!

A large poster told us all about the "Olfactive Pyramid", all the different "notes" -- high, middle and low -- that attach to the raw materials and that you cannot smell all at once. There are "green" notes, "floral" notes, "fruity" notes. It's up to the Perfumer to find the right levels of harmony and balance to achieve the right result from high, middle and low notes.

This display was, aptly, described as the "organ of scents", a keyboard of choices for the clever Perfumer.

Displays, starting from Egyptian times to the present day, showed really beautiful perfume bottles. I loved this selection from the late 19th/early 20th century.

And I really loved this small golden hanging perfume holder, like a miniature incense holder, so delicate!

Not surprisingly, our tour ended up in the Fragonard showroom, where we were invited to sample scents, try to guess the flower or plant they were based on, and then, of course to browse the offerings and make some purchases. Very smart marketing: the prices were quite affordable! No great surprises at what I'll be bringing home with me!

So, what's in a name?  Shakespeare's quote from Romeo and Juliet continues, "that which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet."  There were certainly plenty of rose fragrances at the Musée Parfum Fragonard, and there were plenty of roses in many of Jean-Honoré Fragonard's lavish paintings. In the "écorche" world of Honoré Fragonard?....not so much!!

À bientôt!

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