Marguerite GérardFrench, 1761–1837The Stolen Kiss
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
State Hermitage Museum
Saint Petersburg, Russia
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- 29 Aug 2026
- In this state since
- Aug 30, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
About the painting
The Stolen Kiss is an oil painting on canvas executed in 1787 and located in the Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg. It has been historically attributed to the French Rococo artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806). At 45 by 55 centimetres (18 in × 22 in), the painting is a genre scene influenced by Dutch Golden Age painting, depicting a young couple in a secretive romance, set in the foreground – a subject that was favoured before the French Revolution among French aristocrats.
In the late 18th century, The Stolen Kiss belonged to Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last monarch of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and was hosted in the Lazienki Palace in Warsaw. With the acquisition of the palace in the early 19th century by Tsar Alexander I, the painting effectively became part of the Russian imperial collections. It was transferred in 1895 to the Hermitage Museum, where it remains.
Read on
The traditional attribution of The Stolen Kiss to Fragonard is based on a mention of him as the author, with an etching of the painting published in 1788. However, it has been noted that the style of the painting, though close to Fragonard's works such as The Bolt, is more characteristic of the artist's sister-in-law and apprentice, Marguerite Gérard; because of that, some scholars consider the painting to be either a collaboration by Gérard and Fragonard, or solely by Gérard.
Particulars
- Accession number
- ГЭ-1300
In the catalog
Sources
- State Hermitage Museum: the museum's own open data · fetched 29 Aug 2026
- Image: State Hermitage Museum — Museum open access
