Jean Antoine Watteau

Antoine Joseph Dezallier d’Argenville (1680-1765), with his paraphe and numbering 3278 (L.2951),
his sale, Paris, 18-28 January 1779, in lot 391 (to Lenglier);
The Marquis de Varennes,
his sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 12 May 1922, lot  144;
Schwab d’Héricourt, according to Labbé and Bicart-Sée (loc. cit.);
Mme François Heim, Paris, in 1968;
sale, Paris, Credit Municipal, around 1977 (cancelled);
sale, Paris, Credit Municipal, 9 April 1981, lot 2 (cancelled);
sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 6 December 1984, letter B (cancelled);
sale, Paris, Millon & Associés, 27 November 1998, lot 16 (purchased by the present owner)

Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Watteau et sa géneration, 1968, no.53;
Rotterdam, Kunsthal, European Master Drawings Unveiled, 2002, no. 110 

K.T. Parker, The Drawings of Antoine Watteau, London 1931, p. 11 and note 2; p. 26 and note 3:
K.T. Parker and J. Mathey, Antoine Watteau, Catalogue complet de son oeuvre dessiné, Paris 1957, vol. II, no. 573, repr.;
M.M. Grasselli, in Watteau, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, Paris, Grand Palais, and Berlin, Schloss Charlottenburg, 1984-85, p. 158;
P. Rosenberg, in idem., pp. 376-378, fig. 6;
M.M. Grasselli, The Drawings of Antoine Watteau, unpub. PhD thesis, Harvard University, 1987, pp. 224, 361, no. 235, fig. 260;
J. Labbé and L. Bicart-Sée, La collection de dessins d'Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville, Paris 1996, p. 325 no 3278;
P. Rosenberg and L.-A. Prat, Antoine Watteau 1684-1721, Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Milan 1996, vol. II, no. 489.

Paper slightly yellowed. A little very light brown foxing, and two small, light brown stains towards bottom centre, one of them on a thin spot in the paper. Remains of old mounting strips visible on the reverse, down both sides. General condition otherwise good and fresh - chalk and graphite very good and fresh. Sold in an attractive carved and gilded frame.
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Watteau made this scintillating drawing as a study for a painted composition that is known in two similar but distinct versions: one, Pastoral Pleasures, painted on panel, was in the collection of Pierre Jean Mariette by 1729, and is now in the Musée Condé, Chantilly;  the other, a much larger canvas known as The Shepherds, is in Schloss Charlottenburg.¹  In both paintings we see towards the left a young maid, rather less elegantly dressed than in the drawing, fending off an over-eager admirer.  Her hands are held slightly lower, as if to protect her breasts from the young man's advances, but otherwise the pose is extremely similar to that seen in this preparatory drawing.  Scholars generally agree that the Chantilly painting is the earlier of the two versions, but opinions vary as to their precise dating, although the proposed range only extends from 1715 until 1719.  As for the drawing, Margaret Grasselli proposes a dating of 1717-18, while Rosenberg and Prat favour 1716-1717. 

Some seven other studies relating to these paintings are known, four of which can be directly related only to the Berlin version.²  Watteau developed the figure of the amorous young man in Pastoral Pleasures in a rather freely executed but very damaged drawing in the Musée Cognacq-Jay, Paris, in which, interestingly, the young man, like the woman in the present drawing, is rather more elegantly dressed than in the final painting.³  Of the other related drawings, two are particularly comparable to the present sheet in mood and technique.  Especially similar in terms of its originality of pose and virtuoso handling is a stunningly beautiful study for the background figure of the woman on a swing, seen from behind, while another, smaller and more contemplative study of a seated woman, who in the painting becomes the woman in the pearl necklace, turning towards the dancing couple, is also particularly close to the present study in terms of the extensive and brilliant use of graphite in conjunction with the trois crayons.⁴

Far more than any of his contemporaries, Watteau constantly experimented with different ways of combining the traditional red, black and white chalks,⁵ and at this relatively late stage in his brief career he also began increasingly to explore the visual potential of graphite (often erroneously referred to as mine de plomb or 'black lead'⁶), used in conjunction with some or all of the trois crayons.  Graphite adds the possibility of dark yet reflective lines and shading, and when it is, as here, used in tandem with white chalk throughout a relatively large area of drapery the resultant shimmering effect is spectacular.  In this remarkable drawing, the chalks and graphite are exceptionally well preserved, allowing all the rich variety of textures and scintillating effects of lighting that Watteau was able to create to be seen to their full effect.

1.  See Watteau, exhib. cat., op. cit., 1984-85, pp. 375-8, no. P.53.
2.  Rosenberg and Prat nos 120, 310, 445, 460, 491, 557 and 611 
3.  Rosenberg and Prat no. 445 
4.  Rosenberg and Prat nos. 310 and 491; the latter sold, London, Sotheby's, 6 July 2010, lot 72
5.  L.-A. Prat, ‘‘Resounding Blows’: Notes on Watteau’s Drawing Technique,’ Watteau, The Drawings, exhib. cat., London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2011, pp. 21-25
6.  Prat notes (op. cit.¸ p. 23) that there is in fact no lead in this pigment, citing the article: H. Guicharnaud and A. Duval, ‘Une Technique graphique au nom ambigu: la “mine de plomb”,’ Revue des Musées de France. Revue du Louvre, Paris 2010, 3, pp. 41-47