Antoine Watteau

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Antoine Watteau

1684-1721

Five Theatrical Figures and Two Studies of a Man Seated on the Ground

Red chalk on paper.

6 7/16 x 8 1/16 inches (163 x 205 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 275

Notes:

Watermark: none.
Almost all the small figures on this sheet of studies appear somewhere in Watteau's paintings. The actor with a quiver at the top center can be related to the figure of Love for "Love in the French Theatre" (Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz). The two young men seated on the ground appear in "Gathering Near the Fountain of Neptune" (Madrid, Museo del Prado). The first figure at the upper left, the actor holding a staff, was used as the central motif of a decorative piece for the Hôtel de Nointel, "The Grape Harvester", while the Bacchus at right is probably related to "The Faun" of the same series.

Provenance:

M. Riggall; Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Riggall, M., former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 275, repr.
Denison, Cara D. French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1993. no. 34, repr.
Pierre Rosenberg and Louis-Antoine Prat, "Antoine Watteau 1684-1721, Catalogue raisonné des dessins", 3 vols., Milan, 1996, I, no. 23, p. 42, repr.

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