115–16 (this picture and 49.7.50), as "Vues de jardins d'Italie" by Fragonard. Catalogue raisonné des tableaux qui composent la collection du Comte A. Otherwise there is very little local color. The sky plays a more important role in the painted landscape, picking out the delicate silhouettes of the leaves and branches of the trees, especially toward the top of the picture. It has not been possible to establish whether this is a particular view in Rome or France and perhaps it is simply imaginary. The allée of overarching trees which shades the small figures and leads to an aureole of light at the end of the tunnel (containing a statue on a pedestal?) is one of Fragonard’s most brilliant conceptions in landscape. Another drawing (private collection), larger than the painting, shows essentially the same trees but different staffage, including two women, one with a child, seated on a bench in the foreground. The present picture is one third smaller than, and was probably preceded by, a splendid bister wash and chalk drawing of the same subject (Musée du Petit Palais, Paris). While A Shaded Avenue may always have been with The Cascade ( 49.7.50), the two compositions are not complementary.
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