Antoine WATTEAU (Valenciennes, 1684 - Nogent-sur-Marne, 1721)

Provenance:
• France, private collection

Bibliography:
• Louis Antoine Prat, Pierre Rosenberg, Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721: Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Paris: Gallimard-Electa, 1996

Adored during his lifetime yet somewhat neglected shortly after his premature death in 1721, the work of Jean-Antoine Watteau regained its prominence at the dawn of the 19th century, and even more so in the latter half of the century.

Watteau was born in 1684 in Valenciennes, a Flemish city that had only recently been ceded to France by the Spanish Netherlands. His artistic training began in the workshop of J.-A. Gérin. At the age of 18, he moved to Paris, where he refined his technique by copying Flemish religious paintings, including those by Vleughels and Spoëde. Most of the artist’s works from this period are now known only through engravings.

From 1703 onwards, he discovered the print shops on Rue Saint-Jacques, owned by Pierre II Mariette and his son Jean. There, he was introduced to the works of Titian, Rubens, Callot, and Picart, which profoundly influenced him and led him to adopt a more fluid and colourful technique.

The creation of his masterpiece, *The Pilgrimage to the Isle of Cythera*, in 1717 brought him the recognition he had long sought. He was admitted to the Royal Academy as a painter of a new genre, given the title *painter of fêtes galantes*.

Interweaving poetry, friendship, and love, Watteau immerses the viewer in sumptuous, dreamlike settings where figures stroll and interact with the utmost elegance, harmonising with the surrounding nature.

"They have a novel taste, a grace so intimately tied to the spirit of their creator that one might say they are inimitable. Each figure from the hand of this excellent man bears a character so true and natural that it can stand alone, capturing and satisfying the attention without needing the support of a larger composition. Moreover, the reputation he acquired, both in France and abroad, justifies the belief that even the smallest of his works are precious and should be sought after with great care."

To create these majestic works, the artist produced numerous life studies, serving as an infinite source of inspiration for the various poses and expressions of his figures. The artwork presented here is a remarkable example of these studies. On a sheet of modest dimensions (likely taken from one of the artist’s sketchbooks), Watteau traced in red chalk the delicate profile of a young woman with remarkable sensitivity. Throughout his career, he worked on developing a characteristic female type and exploring the variety of their poses and attitudes. As an attentive observer, he paid meticulous attention to detail. Contemporary fashion also played a significant role in his work, with the details of dresses and hairstyles rendered with exceptional precision. In this study, we can observe a carefully tied ribbon in the model’s hair, extending from the top of a chignon and falling onto her forehead, a motif also seen in other studies (ill. 1 and 2).

With extraordinary skill, his hand captured the subtle tremor of flesh with the mere indication of red chalk. His earliest biographers praised the freedom, finesse, and lightness of his line, which arguably represents the most fascinating aspect of his work. Watteau himself was deeply attached to his drawings.

Nonchalance, insouciance, artifice, and refinement are the defining elements of Antoine Watteau’s oeuvre. In the early 18th century, the heroic certainties of the Baroque era gave way to the elegant subtleties of the style pioneered by this genius of French painting. His work conveys a world of reverie: conversations held in enchanted gardens unfold to the rhythm of eternal minuets. Through these graceful figures, imbued with a certain melancholy, Watteau expresses his own contemplative musings, a reflection of his fragile condition, which brought him great suffering.

At the age of 35, Watteau travelled to London to consult a physician. The harsh English winter proved fatal, and the artist passed away prematurely upon his return to France in 1721.

M.O