Watteau was most famous for his fêtes galantes—scenes of aristocratic and theatrical figures at leisure in imaginary park settings. He made numerous figure studies from life that he used to prepare his paintings. In this drawing, he used three colors of chalk to create a lively, lifelike effect. The white highlights add to the luster of the sheet, especially in the sheen of the silky dress.
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Dimensions:8 3/8 × 8 1/8 in. (21.3 × 20.6 cm) Framed: 21 × 16 in. (53.3 × 40.6 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Gift of Ann Payne Blumenthal, 1943
Accession Number:43.163.23
Andrew James (British); Miss Sarah Ann James Sale, Christies, London, June 22-23, 1891, lot 309.; Sir James Knowles (British), his sale, Christies, London, May 27-29, 1908, lot 242.; Jacques Seligmann; George Blumenthal
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," November 26, 2012–February 24, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021.
Bean and Turcic 1986.331; Rosenberg and Prat 1996.542 (vol. II)
Making the Met, 1870–2020. Andrea Bayer, Laura D. Corey, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, p. 68, fig. 63.
Edmond de Goncourt Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau. Paris, 1875, cat. no. under 367, p. 243.
P. Leroi "[Notice]" in L'Art. vol. 51, 1891, cat. no. 309, p. 96.
Karl Theodore Parker The Drawings of Antoine Watteau. London, 1931, cat. no. 37, fig. no. pl. 37, p. 44, ill.
Karl Theodore Parker, Jacques Mathey Catalogue de l'oeuvre dessiné d'Antoine Watteau. vol. 2, Paris, 1957, cat. no. 546, fig. no. 546, p. 309, ill.
"MMA Bulletin" French Drawings. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, vol. 17, no. 6, New York, February 1959, p. 166, ill.
Jean-Francois Méjanès, Jacques Vilain Pierre-Charles Trémolières (Cholet, 1703- Paris, 1739). Ex. cat. Musée de Cholet, 1973, cat. no. under no. 1, p. 119.
Margaret Morgan Grasselli, Pierre Rosenberg Watteau, 1684-1721. Ex. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., Washington, 1984, cat. no. under D85, fig. no. 2 (under D85), pp. 160, 302, 30, ill.
Margaret Morgan Grasselli "Eleven New Drawings by Nicolas Lancret." Master Drawings. vol. 23-24, no. 3, 1985-1986, fig. no. 1, p. 378.
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 15th-18th Century French Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1986, cat. no. 331, p. 295, ill.
Michael Kitson Claude to Corot, The Development of Landscape Painting in France. Ex. cat. Alan Wintermute, Colnaghi, New York, University of Washington, Seattle, New York and Seattle, 1990, cat. no. under 85, fig. no. 6, p. 136, ill.
Pierre Rosenberg, Louis-Antoine Prat Antoine Watteau 1684-1721: Catalogue raisonné des dessins. Milan, 1996, cat. no. 542 (vol. II), pp. 916-917, ill.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
