L'oeuvre d'Antoine Watteau . . . gravé d'après les tableaux et desseins originaux . . . par les soins de M. de Julienne [called the "Recueil Jullienne"]. Paris, 1735, vol. 1, unpaginated, folio 34 [the engraving by Audran as bound in folio in MMA Drawings and Prints Department], the engraving, an upright rectangle, is inscribed "B. Audran Sculp. / MEZETIN . / du Cabinet de Mr. de Jullienne. / . . . ".
Catalogue des tableaux de Mr. de Jullienne. [ca. 1756] [manuscript in Pierpont Morgan Library] p. 71, no. 157, ill. opp. p. 71 (watercolor drawing as a horizontal oval in a rectangular frame, in an interior: the "Cabinet," presumably this picture), as "Mezetin jouant de la Guitare par . . . Wateau . . . 23o . . . sur . . . 17o de ht. [45.9 x 62.1 cm, see Ref. Rosenberg 1984; as far as possible in a horizontal oval, the composition appears to be identical to that of the MMA Mezzetin; the colors are comparable].
P. Hédouin. "Watteau. Catalogue de son oeuvre." L'Artiste, 4th ser., 5 (November 30, 1845), p. 78, no. 43, calls this picture the portrait of an actor from the Comédie-Italienne that was for a time on sale in the reading room of M. Branger, rue Laffitte.
Paul Lacroix. "Musée du Palais de l'Ermitage sous le règne de Catherine II." Revue universelle des arts 13 (1861), p. 178, no. 402, includes this Mezzetin in a list of pictures published in a rare 1774 catalogue of the royal collection.
Edmond de Goncourt and Jules de Goncourt. Journal entry. 1865 [see Ref. Rosenberg 1984, p. 363, who cites this passage as appearing in "Journal des Goncourt's, mémoires de la vie littéraire," 1888, vol. 2, pp. 245–46, under the date 1865; it was not possible to find the citation in the 1956 Flammarion edition], describe the hands of Mezzetin in this painting [English trans. from Rosenberg 1984]: "how they live, how they speak . . . these pedigreed arched, curved, hands—angry and languid and tormented, these hands of an invalid, of an artist, of capricious elegance tortured, almost diabolic . . .".
G[ustav]. F[riedrich]. Waagen. Die Gemäldesammlung in der Kaiserlichen Eremitage zu St. Petersburg. 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1870, pp. 304–5, no. 1503, as a young man seated outdoors playing the guitar.
Edmond de Goncourt. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau. Paris, 1875, pp. 80–81, no. 86, describes three paintings of Mezzetin by Watteau: an oval on canvas ("H. 20 p., L. 17 p.") [21.3 x 18.1 in., apparently our picture, which was once framed as an oval]; a smaller picture on wood (H. 1 pied, l. 9 p."), in the sale of the painter Coypel in 1753; and a third on wood ("H. 9 p., L. 7 p."), in the sale of Jullienne's widow in 1778; states that one of these three pictures figures is no. 1503 in the collection of the Hermitage.
R. Dohme. "Die Französische Schule des XVIII. Jahrhunderts, 1. Antoine Watteau." Jahrbuch der königlich preussischen Kunstsammlungen 4 (1883), p. 241 n. 1, as one of seven paintings by Watteau sold for 700 fr. at the Jullienne sale in 1767.
John W. Mollett. Watteau. London, 1883, p. 66, no. 86.
Emil Hannover. Antoine Watteau. Berlin, 1889, pp. 70, 124 n. 94, observes that Watteau's fondness for Mezzetin can perhaps be explained by the fact that the character is French in origin, and was the creation of the famous actor Angelico Constantino [Angelo Constantini].
Paul Mantz. "Watteau (deuxiéme article)." Gazette des beaux-arts, 3rd ser., 1 (1889), ill. opp. p. 190 (engraving by L. Muller).
G. Dargenty [Arthur d'Echérac]. Antoine Watteau. Paris, 1891, ill. p. 63 (Audran engraving).
Georges Duplessis. Les Audran. Paris, [1892], p. 68, ill. p. 71 (Audran engraving).
Paul Mantz. Antoine Watteau. Paris, 1892, p. 182, ill. opp. p. 88 (Muller engraving).
Claude Phillips. Antoine Watteau. London, 1895, p. 72.
Lady [Emilia Francis Strong] Dilke. French Painters of the XVIIIth Century. London, 1899, p. 82, mentions "a replica with variations" in the Musée Condé [Chantilly].
A. Somof. "École anglaise et école française." Ermitage Impérial. Catalogue de la galerie des tableaux. 3, St. Petersburg, 1903, pp. 107–8, no. 1503, ill., as purchased at Jullienne's sale in 1765 [sic for 1767] for 708 livres 1 sou, "probably for the Empress Catherine".
L. de Fourcaud. "Antoine Watteau." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 9 (January–June 1904), pp. 137, 139–40, discusses our Mezzetin with "La finette" and "L'indifferent" [both Louvre, Paris], referring to them as little masterpieces representing "figures à caractère," or comic types treated in isolation.
Virgile Josz. Antoine Watteau. Paris, [1904], ill. between pp. 110–11.
J. J. Foster. French Art from Watteau to Prud'hon. 1, London, 1905, p. 100, pl. 29.
Nicolas Wrangell. Les chefs-d'oeuvre de la galerie de tableaux de l'Ermitage Impérial à St.-Pétersbourg. London, [1909], pp. XXXII, ill. p. 219, as purchased in 1765 [sic].
Edmond Pilon. Watteau et son école. Brussels, 1912, p. 95, ill. opp. p. 92.
E. Heinrich Zimmermann. Watteau: Des Meisters Werke. Stuttgart, 1912, p. 187, no. 41, pl. 41, includes it with works from about 1716–18.
Raymond Bouyer. "Les éprouvés de la guerre: Le Musée de l'Ermitage, à Petrograd." Le Cousin Pons 3 (January 15, 1918), p. 315, ill. p. 313.
Alexander Benua. Putevoditel po kartinnoi galereye imperatorskago Ermitazha [Guide to the Paintings Galleries of the Hermitage]. St. Petersburg, [192?], pp. 172–75, no. 1503, ill. p. 153, places it in Watteau's last years, possibly even after his return from England when he was very ill.; erroneously claims [see ex. coll.] that it was not sold at Jullienne's 1767 sale, but was kept by his widow at whose sale in 1778 it was probably acquired by Catherine the Great.
Émile Dacier. "Les premiers amateurs de Watteau en France." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 40 (June–December 1921), pp. 118, 120, describes the Mezzetin in the Jullienne sale as an oval, different from the MMA painting, then in the Hermitage.
Émile Dacier and Albert Vuaflart. "III. – Catalogue." Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIIIe siècle. 3, Paris, 1922, pp. 100–101, no. 215, list Watteau's paintings of this subject: one in the sale of Charles-Antoine Coypel, a smaller one in the La Haye sale of 1754, one with Jean de Jullienne and included in his sale, an oval that measured 45.9 x 54.9 cm [the MMA painting], and one that was in the posthumous sale of Mme de Jullienne in 1778, which he believes was the La Haye painting and possibly identifiable with the "Donneur de sérénade" in the Musée Condé, a painting which passed through many sales in the 18th century; mention the picture in the Hermitage [now MMA], not connecting it with the painting in the Jullienne sale, and observe that it is rectangular like the painting engraved by Audran; believe it is a portrait of a friend of Watteau in the costume of Mezzetin, rather than a portrayal of Mezzetin himself; discuss the history of Mezzetin's role in the comédie italienne, observing that the costume appears in the "Livre de scènes comiques inventées par Gillot," with the following note "Habit de Mezzetin dont on se sert depuis 1680. Caractère de valet intrigant inventé en France . . ."; remark that the role was the creation of Angelo Constantini, who debuted with the comédie italienne in 1682 and played the role of Mezzetin for the first time in October 1683.
Émile Dacier and Albert Vuaflart. "II. – Historique." Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIIIe siècle. 2, Paris, 1922, pp. 97, 102, refer to it as an oval painting engraved in a rectangular format.
Edmund Hildebrandt. Antoine Watteau. Berlin, 1922, pp. 27–28, pl. 5, remarks that this picture anticipates the mood of Böcklin's "Call of the Shepherd" [present whereabouts unknown].
Louis Réau. Histoire de la peinture française au XVIIIe siècle. 1, Paris, 1925, p. 18, pl. 12.
Louis Réau. "Catalogue de l'art français dans les musées russes." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1928), p. 227, no. 414, ill. opp. p. 226.
Louis Réau in Les peintres français du XVIIIe siècle: Histoire des vies et catalogue des oeuvres. 1, Paris, 1928, p. 34, no. 57.
Émile Dacier, Albert Vuaflart, and Jacques Herold. "I – Notices et documents biographiques." Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIIIe siècle. 1, Paris, 1929, pp. 223–24.
Louis Réau. Catalogue de l'art français dans les musées russes. Paris, 1929, p. 67, no. 414, ill. opp. p. 66 [reprint of catalogue published in Ref. Réau 1928].
Louis Réau and Georges Loukomski. Catherine La Grande, inspiratrice d'art et mécène. Paris, 1930, p. 84, pl. 54.
R. H. Wile[n]ski. French Painting. Boston, 1931, p. 108, pl. 44b.
Émile Dacier. "La curiosité au XVIIIe siècle: La vente Charles Coypel d'après les notes manuscrites de P.-J. Mariette." Revue de l'art ancien et moderne 61 (January–May 1932), pp. 131, 133, ill. (the Audran engraving), erroneously identifies the "Joueur de guitare" that appeared in the Charles Coypel sale with the work engraved by Audran [the MMA painting], but notes that the Coypel picture is different from the one in the Hermitage.
Catalogue of A Century of Progress Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, 1934. Exh. cat., Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago, 1934, pp. 27–28, no. 154, ill. (color, frontispiece), as "Le Mezzetin (Angelo Co[n]stantini, the Actor)," painted between 1716–18.
Exposition de l'art français au XVIIIe siècle. Exh. cat., Charlottenborg Palace. Copenhagen, 1935, pp. 80–81, no. 260, ill. (frontispiece).
Harry B. Wehle. "Le Mezzetin by Antoine Watteau." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 30 (January 1935), pp. 12–18, ill. (overall on cover, and detail), rejects the identification of the sitter as Constantini, observing that he was in prison during Watteau's time in Paris; suggests instead that the model was Luigi Riccoboni, comparing the head to a portrait bust of this Commedia dell'arte actor (ill., L. Rasi, I Comici Italiani, II, 1901, p. 350); believes the same actor appears as Mezzetin in Watteau's painting, "Love in the Italian Theatre"; dates our picture about 1718–19.
Charles Sterling in Chefs d'oeuvre de l'art français [official catalogue]. Exh. cat., Palais National des Arts. Paris, 1937, pp. 115–16, no. 231, dates it about 1715–17.
Josephine L. Allen. "Drawings from the Biron Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33 (March 1938), pp. 77–78, publishes Watteau's red-chalk drawing of the head of Mezzetin, recently acquired by the Museum, illustrating it as "Head of Luigi Riccoboni".
K. T. Parker. "Netherlandish, German, French and Spanish Schools." Catalogue of the Collection of Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum. 1, Oxford, 1938, p. 270, observes that a red chalk drawing of Mezzetin (cat no. 560), which he ascribes to "?Watteau," shows a close affinity to our picture; calls our picture "fully mature" and notes that the early style but late subject of the drawing causes him to doubt it.
Gilbert W. Barker. Antoine Watteau. London, 1939, p. 137, dates it shortly after the arrival of the troupe of Italian comedians in Paris in 1716; identifies the model as Riccoboni and calls the painting disappointing after the "great promise of the drawing".
H. W. Williams Jr. "Some French Drawings from the Biron Collection." Art Quarterly 2 (1939), p. 51, fig. 3.
Hans Vollmer in Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler. 35, Leipzig, 1942, p. 193, dates it about 1717.
Michael Benisovich. "The French Drawings of the Metropolitan Museum." Burlington Magazine 82 (March 1943), p. 70.
A. E. Brinckmann. J. A. Watteau. Vienna, 1943, pp. 29, 60, no. 62, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Flemish, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and British Drawings." European Drawings from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 2, New York, 1943, mentioned under pl. 31, publishes the MMA drawing as "Head of Luigi Riccoboni" and dates the painting probably 1718 or 1719.
Xavier de Courville. Un apôtre de l'art du théâtre au XVIIIème siècle, Luigi Riccoboni dit Lélio, Tome II (1716–1731): L'expérience française. 2, Paris, 1945, pp. 191–200, pl. 46 [see Ref. Sterling 1955], states, in caption, that the basis for identifying Riccoboni as the Mezzetin in this picture and in "Love in the Italian Theatre" is not trustworthy.
Hans Tietze. European Master Drawings in the United States. New York, 1947, p. 166, identifies the drawing from the Biron collection as "Head of Riccoboni," but notes that our Mezzetin "is not intended as an individual portrait".
Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 2, p. 664, no. 1780, ill. (cropped).
Michel Florisoone. La peinture française: Le dix-huitième siècle. Paris, 1948, p. 34, colorpl. 18, calls our Mezzetin a portrait of Sirois, father-in-law of Gersaint [Watteau's friend and patron].
Hélène Adhémar. Watteau, sa vie — son œuvre. Paris, 1950, pp. 100, 119, 127, 230, no. 206, pl. 144 (detail), and colorpl. 145, believes the sitter is one of Watteau's friends, whose name we will probably never know, but elsewhere in the text describes him as Watteau's friend Sirois, who is depicted surrounded by his family in the "Concert en famille" (Wallace Collection, London); doubts that our picture was the one owned by Jullienne and sold as lot 253 from his sale, and suggests it was produced "a bit later".
René Huyghe in Hélène Adhémar. Watteau, sa vie — son œuvre. Paris, 1950, pp. 28, 47, 54 n. 25, p. 56 n. 44.
Regina Shoolman and Charles E. Slatkin. Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. New York, 1950, p. 42.
René Huyghe. "Vers une psychologie de l'art." Revue des arts 3 (September 1951), pp. 134–35, 138–39, 141, ill. (overall and details), dates it between 1717 and 1719.
Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 230, no. 127, ill. (color).
Jean Lévy. "Watteau's 'Le Lorgneur'." Burlington Magazine 96 (July 1954), p. 198.
Theodore Rousseau Jr. "A Guide to the Picture Galleries." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 5.
Charles Sterling. "XV–XVIII Centuries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of French Paintings. 1, Cambridge, Mass., 1955, pp. 105–8, ill., states that Watteau did not depict particular actors, observing that Constantini was absent from Paris during Watteau's entire career and that Riccoboni never played the role of Mezzetin; considers it likely that the subject of our picture was a friend of the artist, not necessarily associated with the theater; places the picture in Watteau's latest period, about 1719; is convinced that it was the Mezzetin described in Jullienne's sale as an upright oval and states that "the canvas has always been rectangular and was merely framed as an oval in Jullienne's time".
Hélène Adhémar. "Watteau et ses amis." L'Oeil no. 14 (February 1956), p. 20, identifies the model as Watteau's friend Sirois.
Jacques Mathey. "Une feuille d'études pour le 'Gilles' et le 'Mezzetin à la guitare' de Watteau." Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 3rd ser., 7 (1956), p. 215.
K. T. Parker and J. Mathey. Antoine Watteau: Catalogue complet de son œuvre dessiné. Paris, 1957, vol. 2, pp. 337, 339, under no. 726, relate the MMA study for Mezzetin's head to a series of drawings made in preparation for Crozat's Seasons in about 1712–13; find the model in this study particularly close to the head of a man in a red and black chalk drawing in the Jousset collection, Paris (no. 510); remark that the same model posed nude for Watteau during these years and doubt that a person of Riccoboni's importance would have posed nude, and certainly not in the years 1712–13 [before the return of the Italian comedians to Paris in 1716, see Ref. Barker 1939].
Charles Sterling. Great French Painting in the Hermitage. New York, [1958], p. 231 n. 12.
Jacques Mathey. "Le rôle décisif des dessins dans l'oeuvre de Watteau." Connaissance des arts no. 86 (April 1959), p. 43, ill., dates the drawing for the head about 1713, but notes that the mastery of the MMA painting has led some authors to date it at the end of Watteau's life.
J. Mathey. Antoine Watteau: Peintures réapparues . . . Paris, 1959, pp. 36, 55, 68, identifies the model as the one who posed for Watteau's sketches of male nudes, dating it April 1715, when Watteau was again living with Crozat, after the latter's return from Italy.
Pierre Descargues. The Hermitage. London, 1961, p. 32, ill. opp. p. 32.
Albert P. de Mirimonde. "Les sujets musicaux chez Antoine Watteau." Gazette des beaux-arts, 6th ser., 58 (November 1961), pp. 250, 252–53, 261, fig. 1, analyzes the guitar technique in detail and describes the quality of music it would produce; notes that Mezzetin's right [sic for left] hand executes a tremolo—an ironic touch in the context of the disinterest of the beauty in the background—and that he plucks the strings close to the bridge of the instrument, creating a nasal sound that can be heard at a distance.
Jean Cailleux. "A Rediscovered Painting by Watteau: 'La Partie Quarrée' [in L'art du dix-huitième siècle, an advertisement supplement to Burlington Magazine]." Burlington Magazine 104 (April 1962), p. iii, pl. 7 (detail of guitar), notes that the identical instrument is represented in Watteau's "La partie quarré" [now Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco] which he places two or three years earlier than our painting.
A. P. de Mirimonde. "Les instruments de musique chez Antoine Watteau." Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire de l'Art Français (1962), p. 49.
Allardyce Nicoll. The World of Harlequin: A Critical Study of the Commedia dell'Arte. Cambridge, 1963, p. 78, fig. 51.
Jacob Bean. 100 European Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, [1964?], unpaginated, under no. 56 (MMA drawing for head), places the painting late in Watteau's career, about 1719, and finds the style of the drawing "entirely compatible with this date"; considers it most likely that Watteau posed an unidentified friend or professional model for the drawing rather than a specific commedia dell'arte actor.
Colin Eisler. "Two Immortalized Landscapes—Watteau and the Recueil Jullienne." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 24 (January 1966), p. 166, fig. 3.
Michael Levey. Rococo to Revolution: Major Trends in Eighteenth-Century Painting. New York, 1966, pp. 72, 78, colorpl. 41.
Anita Brookner. Watteau. London, 1967, p. 38, colorpl. 37, dates it about 1718–19.
Pierre Schneider. The World of Watteau, 1684–1721. New York, 1967, p. 104, ill. in color (p. 105, and detail on book jacket).
Ettore Camesasca in The Complete Paintings of Watteau. New York, 1968, pp. 119, 121–22, no. 193, ill. (black and white and colorpl. 56) [same text as Ref. Montagni 1968].
E. C. Montagni in L'opera completa di Watteau. Milan, 1968, pp. 118–19, no. 193, ill. (black and white and colorpl. 56) [same text as Camesasca 1968].
José de Azeredo Perdigão. Calouste Gulbenkian, Collector. Lisbon, 1969, pp. 109–10, 113, 229, describes Gulbenkian's negotiations in May and June of 1930 with the U.S.S.R. for the purchase from the Hermitage of Houdon's Diana, Rembrandt's Pallas Athene, and four other paintings, including our Mezzetin; notes that the four other paintings were sold to Wildenstein, an arrangement—the author suggests—that must have been made beforehand to prevent competition in this promising market.
Raymond Charmet. French Paintings in Russian Museums. New York, [1970], p. 8, states that Galitzin, Catherine II's ambassador in Paris, acquired the Mezzetin for her in 1767.
Introduction by Kenneth Clark in Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, pp. 274, 277, no. 303, ill. pp. 58 (color) and 274.
Edith A. Standen in Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. New York, [1970], p. 66, ill. (color).
Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 225 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].
Jean Ferré. Watteau. Madrid, [1972], vol. 1, in chronology under the dates 1753 and 1877; vol. 2, p. 461, fig. 319 (Audran engraving), p. 659, fig. 418 (color); vol. 3, p. 811, fig. 600 (detail), pp. 812, 898–901, no. A 37, figs. 723–727; vol. 4, pp. 1099, 1103, remarks that there are twelve versions or copies of this picture.
Julius S. Held and Donald Posner. 17th and 18th Century Art: Baroque Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. Englewood Cliffs, N.J., [1972], p. 303, colorpl. 45, date it about 1718 and describe it as a friend of Watteau's dressed in commedia dell'arte costume.
Saint-Paulien in Jean Ferré. Watteau. Madrid, [1972], vol. 1, pp. 151, 208, 215–16, 251, 264.
Yvonne Boerlin-Brodbeck Universität Basel. Antoine Watteau und das Theater. 1973, pp. 170, 173–76, 231, 256 n. 49, rejects identification of the sitter with Constantini or Sirois and thinks it most reasonable to see the subject simply as a friend of Watteau's in the costume of Mezzetin.
Yu. Zolotov. Antoine Watteau. Leningrad [St. Petersburg], 1973, pp. 14, 25.
John Hayes. Gainsborough: Paintings and Drawings. London, 1975, p. 201, pl. 3 (detail of landscape).
Ronald Paulson. Emblem and Expression: Meaning in English Art of the Eighteenth Century. Cambridge, Mass., 1975, pp. 95–97, fig. 49, observes that here "Mezzetin, the coarse servant, has become a rather delicate figure, his artistry and musicianship emphasized".
Pierre Rosenberg. The Age of Louis XV: French Painting, 1710–1774. Exh. cat., Toledo Museum of Art. [Toledo], 1975, p. 85, no. 121, pl. 21, colorpl. 4, as usually dated around 1718–20.
Margaretta Salinger in "The Price Was Not Too High." The Chase, the Capture: Collecting at the Metropolitan. New York, 1975, pp. 198–200, fig. 50.
Oliver T. Banks Princeton University. Watteau and the North: Studies in the Dutch and Flemish Baroque Influence on French Rococo Painting. New York, 1977, pp. 121, 183–84, figs. 35, 119 (overall and detail), relates our Mezzetin to several Dutch baroque paintings with musicians and notes that "the single figure of a musician often served as a vanitas allegory symbolizing the transience of pleasure".
Emmanuel Bondeville in "Watteau et la musique." Pèlerinage à Watteau. Exh. cat., Hôtel de la Monnaie. Paris, 1977, vol. 1, p. 101.
Martin P. Eidelberg Princeton University. Watteau's Drawings: Their Use and Significance. New York, 1977, pp. i–ii, 22–24, 28, fig. 8, discusses the drawing related to this composition in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and finds Parker's [Ref. 1938] early dating of the drawing questionable; in his introduction, however [pp. i-ii], written in 1976, observes that the style of the drawing is indeed early and that either it was not used until much later, or it was the basis for an otherwise unknown early painting.
A. P. de Mirimonde. L'iconographie musicale sous les rois Bourbons: La musique dans les arts plastiques (XVIIe–XVIIIe siècles). 2, Paris, 1977, pp. 34–35.
Michel Sanvoisin in "Les musiciens de Watteau." Pèlerinage à Watteau. Exh. cat., Hôtel de la Monnaie. Paris, 1977, vol. 1, pp. 106–9, calls the guitar in our picture similar in all respects to the simpler instruments made by Groselet.
Denys Sutton in Paris—New York: A Continuing Romance. Exh. cat., Wildenstein. New York, 1977, pp. 53–54, no. 54, fig. 31.
Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, pp. 356, 367, fig. 664 (color).
Robert C. Williams. Russian Art and American Money, 1900–1940. Cambridge, Mass., 1980, pp. 149, 160–61, 180, 182, as purchased by Calouste Gulbenkian from the Hermitage in May 1930 and "promptly" sold to Wildenstein Gallery in New York.
Margaret Morgan Grasselli in Watteau, 1684–1721. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1984, p. 188, calls the MMA drawing (cat. no. 110) a true preparatory study, probably made when the painting was already underway, at a point when the artist "needed to perfect the pose of the head before he could proceed" and notes that the slight indications of the large beret sketched around the head show that Watteau had Mezzetin already in mind when he made it; finds unconvincing Parker and Methey's [Ref. 1957] identification of the sitter with the model who posed for nude studies for the Crozat Seasons; calls the style of the drawing consistent with the "almost unanimous" dating of the painting to 1718–20.
François Moureau in Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Pierre Rosenberg. Watteau, 1684–1721. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1984, pp. 509–10, 528, 535–36, ill. (details), describes the costume as typical of Mezzetin in the Italian Theater, and notes that after Constantini, who played the role without a mask, all Mezzetins maintained this custom, perhaps explaining this character's attraction for Watteau.
Donald Posner. Antoine Watteau. Ithaca, N.Y., 1984, pp. 57–58, 206, 208, 224–25, 258, 288 n. 16, colorpl. 48, observes that although "most scholars now assume that it shows a friend of Watteau dressed in the costume of Mezzetin," the same sitter seems to have posed for a number of Watteau's studies and was therefore almost certainly a professional model; on this basis calls the painting an ideal portrait; notes that "the aching longing expressed by the comedian is meant as a comment on a universal state of soul".
Marianne Roland Michel. Watteau: An Artist of the Eighteenth Century. New York, 1984, pp. 156–58, 204, 266, 269, 272–73, fig. 144, colorpl. 38 (detail of head), dates it towards 1717–19, later than the Chantilly Mezzetin, and considers it likely to be a portrait of someone close to the artist; identifies it with the oval Mezzetin sold in 1767 from Jullienne's sale, observing that "it is obvious, especially since its extremely successful cleaning, that it was originally oval and that the corner-pieces have been added"; is uncertain whether it is the rectangular Mezzetin mentioned in Madame de Jullienne's sale and considers it unlikely that Jullienne owned two Mezzetins, an oval and a rectangle.
Pierre Rosenberg et al. in Watteau, 1684–1721. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1984, pp. 246, 362–65, no. 49, ill. fig. 10 (the Audran engraving), p. 363 (color), comments on the presence of the same statue in the well-known engraving depicting Watteau and Jullienne together (fig. 1), and suggests that "her" presence in both works, and the fact that Jullienne kept the painting throughout his life, may indicate that it was conceived as an allegorical portrait of Jullienne, perhaps at a time when he was courting his future wife (they were married in 1720); notes that the figure of Mezzetin at the far left of "Harlequin, Emperor in the Moon" (Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nantes)—which he ascribes to Watteau rather than Gillot, in or shortly after 1707—clearly foreshadows the Mezzetin in our picture, and thus provides support for attribution of the Nantes painting to Watteau; discusses the provenance in detail, observing that identification of the MMA picture with the Mezzetin in Jullienne's 1767 sale has been wrongly questioned; discusses related paintings, drawings and prints in detail.
Helmut Börsch-Supan. Watteau, 1684–1721: Führer zur Ausstellung im Schloß Charlottenburg. Exh. cat., Schloss Charlottenburg. [Berlin], 1985, pp. 80–81, no. 119, ill., wonders if the woods and statue behind Mezzetin are from Watteau's own hand and claims that the picture was originally oval in format; suggests the picture was found unfinished at Watteau's death and completed by a painter in his circle such as Pater.
Denys Sutton. "Antoine Watteau—Enigmatic Ironist." Apollo 121 (March 1985), p. 156, ill. on cover (color).
Jacob Bean with the assistance of Lawrence Turcic. 15th–18th Century French Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1986, p. 297.
Youri Zolotov. Antoine Watteau: Gemälde und Zeichnungen in sowjetischen Museen. Düsseldorf, 1986, pp. 10, 13, ill.
Yvonne Boerlin-Brodbeck in "La figure assise dans un paysage." Antoine Watteau (1684–1721): Le peintre, son temps et sa légende. Paris, 1987, p. 167, pl. 63, mentions our Mezzetin among Watteau's subjects isolated in landscapes, noting that they were the source of the Romantic topos for the melancholic Watteau; observes, however, that it was not until the second half of the 18th century that a figure isolated in the landscape became a pictorial formula for melancholy.
Martin Eidelberg in "Watteau in the Atelier of Gillot." Antoine Watteau (1684–1721): Le peintre, son temps et sa légende. Paris, 1987, p. 55, pl. 63, notes that the pose of Mezzetin in the Nantes "Harlequin, Emperor in the Moon" and in our painting—with his head thrown back and guitar in hand—"is a matter of theatrical convention and does not provide proof of authorship"; based on the handling of the Nantes picture, doubts that Watteau was involved in its execution.
Florence Gétreau in "Watteau et la musique: Réalité et interprétations." Antoine Watteau (1684–1721): Le peintre, son temps et sa légende. Paris, 1987, p. 241, pl. 63, fig. 18 (detail).
Thierry Lefrançois. "L'influence d'Antoine Watteau sur l'oeuvre de Charles Coypel." Antoine Watteau (1684–1721): Le peintre, son temps et sa légende. Paris, 1987, p. 65, pl. 63.
Evanghélos A. Moutsopoulos. "Les structures de la temporalité chez Watteau." Antoine Watteau (1684–1721): Le peintre, son temps et sa légende. Paris, 1987, p. 147, pl. 63.
Kimerly Rorschach in Claude to Corot: The Development of Landscape Painting in France. Exh. cat., Colnaghi. New York, 1990, pp. 111–12, fig. 2, remarks that one would expect a graceful nude Venus to serve as garden statuary, and concludes that this statue, "draped in a fashion that approximates contemporary dress," must allude to a "more particular contemporary personage—the loved one—although the association with Venus, goddess of love, coexists comfortably with this more specific image"; suggests that the bench and wall are overgrown with roses not yet in bloom, noting that roses, traditionally associated with love, appear frequently in Watteau's paintings.
Étienne Jollet. Watteau: Les fêtes galantes. Paris, 1994, pp. 54–56, ill. (color).
Nicole Garnier-Pelle. Chantilly, Musée Condé: Peintures du XVIIIe siècle. Paris, 1995, pp. 152–53.
Pierre Rosenberg and Louis-Antoine Prat. Antoine Watteau, 1684–1721: Catalogue raisonné des dessins. Milan, 1996, vol. 2, p. 1048, date the MMA drawing about 1718, but are not convinced it is a study for our picture, in part because the ruff of Mezzetin's costume has been omitted from the drawing.
Alan Wintermute. Watteau and His World: French Drawing from 1700 to 1750. Exh. cat., Frick Art Museum. London, 1999, p. 170, fig. 91, notes that Watteau did not usually make drawings with particular compositions in mind and calls the MMA study an exception; believes that after the composition of the painting was laid out, Watteau made the chalk study to work out final details of expression and pose; finds the style of the drawing consistent with the painting's probable date of 1718–20.
Helmut Börsch-Supan. Antoine Watteau, 1684–1721. Cologne, 2000, pp. 124–25, ill. (color).
Julie Anne Plax. Watteau and the Cultural Politics of Eighteenth-Century France. Cambridge, 2000, pp. 131, 135, 138–39, fig. 52, using our Mezzetin as a case in point, observes that "Watteau's Harlequins, Mezzetins, and Pierrots rarely match the physical types or the stylized postures and movements belonging to the characters that their costumes represent"; remarks that the hands of Mezzetin "seem to stumble" here, like the hands of the lute player in "The Charms of Life" (Wallace Collection London), as if "the men's desire has made it impossible for them to pursue the sort of controlled amorous ritual implied by the playing of a stringed instrument".
Renaud Temperini. Watteau. Paris, 2002, pp. 119, 146, no. 102, ill. (color), as almost unanimously dated between 1717–19, before Watteau's stay in London.
Alan Wintermute in The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. New Haven, 2003, pp. 140–41, 357, no. 10, ill. (color), remarks that "this portrait of Love's martyr [is] exceptional in Watteau's oeuvre, and an unsurpassed image of romantic aspiration and torment"; considers it most likely that the sitter for this figure was a friend of Watteau's, one who posed for the artist on other occassions, and not an actor closely associated with the role of Mezzetin; agrees with Grasselli [Ref. 1984] that the MMA study for the head is a preparatory drawing made specifically for the head in our painting.
Joseph Baillio et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. Exh. cat., Wildenstein & Co., Inc. New York, [2005], pp. 53, 72, no. 24, ill., date it about 1710.
Katja Schmitz-von Ledebur in Goya: Prophet der Moderne. Exh. cat., Alte Nationalgalerie [Berlin]. Cologne, 2005, pp. 66, 348, ill. (color), remarks that the tapestry "El majo de la guitarra" (Prado, Madrid), following Goya's cartoon of 1779–80, is closely related to Watteau's "Mezzetin"; notes that both allude to Jacob Cats's "Quid Non Sentit Amor," an emblem published in 1627 (Proteus of te Minne-Beelden verandert im Sinne-Beelden, XLIII, S. 254).
Julie Anne Plax. "Belonging to the In Crowd: Watteau and the Bonds of Art and Friendship." French Genre Painting in the Eighteenth Century. Washington, 2007, pp. 53–54, 64–65, fig. 9, notes that this is one of the few paintings by Watteau that Jean de Jullienne kept until the end of his life; on this basis suggests the picture was a keepsake, supporting Rosenberg's suggestion [Ref. 1984] that it was a token of friendship presented to Jullienne at the time he was courting his future wife; erroneously claims that our painting of Mezzetin was not included in Jean de Jullienne's "Oeuvre gravé" [but see Ref. Jullienne 1735], and argues that this collection of engravings "functioned as a promotional catalogue of works that could be purchased through Jullienne" and did not include paintings he either could not sell, or did not wish to sell.
Colin B. Bailey in French Art of the Eighteenth Century at The Huntington. [San Marino, Calif.], 2008, p. 342, fig. 130, observes that the portrayal of Mezzetin here "could not be further removed from his boorish theatrical persona".
Katharine Baetjer in Watteau, Music, and Theater. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pp. 44–47, no. 12, ill. (color) and color detail on dustjacket.
Georgia J. Cowart in Watteau, Music, and Theater. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, p. 13.
Perrin Stein in Watteau, Music, and Theater. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2009, pp. 82, 84, believes that Watteau formulated this composition before making the drawn study for it, "Head of a Man" (MMA 37.165.107).
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