Invocation to Love, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, c. 1781
Jean-Honoré Fragonard, portraitJean-Honoré FragonardFrench, 1732–1806

Invocation to Love

c. 1781 · Drawing

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Invocation to Love” now? Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

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In this state since
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The museum

About the work

Fragonard used gardens as the setting for love and courtship in some of his most important works. One such scene, this drawing depicts a woman pleading for help from a statue of Eros, the god of love. He wears a blindfold, suggesting an uncertain outcome for the woman, as does a Cupid who indifferently leans on an orb nearby. Like other artists in 18th-century France, Fragonard was deeply influenced by historic imagery of the Garden of Love—a pastoral and idyllic contained landscape. He revisited the specific image seen here multiple times, in two oil paintings (Musée du Louvre and private collection, New York) and another drawing (Princeton University Art Museum).

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Details

Accession number
1943.657

In the catalog

Sources

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On view at The Cleveland Museum of Art

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