The Visit to the Nursery

Fragonard is usually associated in the popular imagination with amusing and mildly erotic works, yet he was also an observant and sometimes sincere painter of family life. The Visit to the Nursery is one of his more ambitious and successful domestic scenes, a touching and evocative image of parental affection. There is a striking relationship between this painting and an engraving designed by Moreau and published in 1776.