Paint "Young Girl Reading" Yourself

about 1 hour

Sketching "Young Girl Reading" on a warm ground

Cover the whole canvas with a thin, warm layer of heavily thinned burnt sienna. Wipe it with a rag until it turns honey-brown. Values are hard to judge on white canvas, and Fragonard also worked on a warm ground.

Draw a pencil grid: 6 squares across and 7½ down. On a 40 × 50 cm canvas each square is 6.7 cm. Transfer the sketch square by square. Start with the big lines: the backrest, the back, the line of the ledge. Only then the head, the hand and the book.

• Draw the head as an oval tilted down towards the book. The whole tilt of the painting comes from it.
• The cushion behind her back is one big rounded volume. Don't draw it in detail.

about 1 hour

Light and dark in the painting

Using only burnt umber and thinner, paint the four values you see in the picture. The darkest is the background behind the girl and the shadow under the ledge; the lightest are the collar, the bodice of the dress and the cushion.

Work with a No. 10 flat and broad movements. Don't paint the light areas: leave them clean or wipe them out with a rag.

about 2 hours

The big colour masses: background, dress, cushion

Begin with the background, because it is the darkest and largest area. Mix raw umber with a little ultramarine and yellow ochre and cover it with a No. 16 flat. Then the wall on the right and the ledge in warm browns, then the dress in yellow ochre, the cushion in greyish lilac and finally the face and hands.

• Put one single colour in each mass. No transitions and no details.
• The paint is still lean: more thinner, little oil.

2–3 hours

Form and light in the dress and face

The light comes from the upper left. Where the dress turns towards us, add Naples yellow and a little white. Where it turns away, add ochre with a touch of umber. Don't darken with black: it makes the dress muddy.

Model the face softly with a No. 6 round. Cheek and nose are white with a touch of cadmium red. The shadows under the chin are ochre with sienna. Here you may soften the stroke slightly with a clean, dry brush.

• The paint is now thicker, with more oil. The rule is fat over lean, never the other way round.

about 1 hour

Fragonard's bold final strokes

This is the best part, because Fragonard painted fast and boldly. The sleeve is built from a few long diagonal strokes. Load a No. 10 flat with plenty of paint and make each stroke in one movement. Don't go back to correct it.

• The collar: short, curly movements in pure white. Fragonard also scratched lines into the wet paint with the handle of his brush.
• The ribbons: lilac from white, alizarin and a little ultramarine, 3–4 strokes and no more.
• The book: a red edge of burnt sienna and cadmium red, the pages in near-white.
• Finally, place the lightest highlights on the collar, dress and cushion with a No. 2 round.