This design is one of Fragonard's studies for a tailpiece to chapter eleven, devoted to the Campi Phlegrei (the volcanic district west of Naples), in the abbé de Saint-Non's "Voyage pittoresque ou description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicilie", Paris, 1781-1786, volume I, part 2, p. 222. The design was engraved by Charles Guttenberg. The Voyages is a five volume compendium containing several hundred plates and vignettes and to which Fragonard was a significant contributor. The decorative flourishes of this design are in part a free adaptation of an ornamental etching by the Italian artist Stefano della Bella (1610-1664).
Inscribed at lower center, below dolphin, "Monte novo"; at lower left, "I y".
Watermark: Fleur-de-lis in shield over 4 and letters "WR", fragment of bottom, probably Vanderley.
De Fabregoules, M. de Bourguignon. former owner.
Giraud, Charles, 1802-1881, former owner.
Flury-Hérard, former owner.
Burdon-Muller, Rowland, donor.
Adams, Frederick B., Jr. Seventh Annual Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1957, p. 76-79.
A review of acquisitions, 1949-1968 / Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : The Library, 1969, p. 144-145.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 117.
Denison, Cara, Myra Nan Rosenfeld, and Stephanie Wiles. Exploring Rome : Piranesi and His Contemporaries. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library; Montréal : Centre Canadien d'Architecture, 1993, no. 92, repr.