The Tax Collectors (Les traitants)

Jean-Honoré Fragonard

National Gallery of Art

This print shows three people. On the left, there are two standing men, both facing a seated man on the right. The figure on the far left is an older man with pale skin, wearing a long coat, trousers, boots, and what appears to be a dark turban or headwrap. One of his hands is on his belt, and the other is on a large sack-like object that sits on a surface in front of the seated man. Standing next to him, with his hand on the first man's shoulder, is another bearded man with light gray skin and prominent cheekbones, wearing a white cap and leaning slightly forward toward the seated man at the table. The seated individual is an elderly man with pale skin, a beard, and a bald head, dressed in robes, with one hand on the table or surface in front of him and the other raised up. He looks up at the standing men, his mouth in a frown. The background is shadowy, made with thin crosshatched lines.