Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Study of a Shell (Cassis inflata)

Antoine Watteau
1684-1721

Study of a Shell (Cassis inflata)

8 7/8 x 8 1/4 inches (226 x 208 mm)
Red and black chalks on light brown laid paper.
1978.29

Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978.

Notes
Watermark: none.
This is one of only eight known shell studies by Watteau, generally believed to have been drawn in 1720, when the artist was convalescing at the home of the picture dealer Gersaint, whose private collection included seashells.
Inscriptions/Markings
Inscribed on verso, in red chalk, "Watteau".
Associated names
Groult, Camille, 1832-1908, former owner.
Groult, Jean, 1868-1951, former owner.
Bordeaux-Groult, Pierre, 1916-2007, former owner.
Bibliography
Ryskamp, Charles, ed. Nineteenth Report to the Fellows of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1978-1980. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1981, p. 221.
Denison, Cara D. French Drawings, 1550-1825. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1984, no. 41.
Denison, Cara D., with Stephanie Wiles and Ruth S. Kraemer. Fantasy and Reality : Drawings from the Sunny Crawford von B|low Collection. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1995, no. 3, repr. in color.
Rosenberg, Pierre and Louis-Antoine Prat. Antoine Watteau 1684-1721, Catalogue raisonné des dessins, 3 vols., Milan, 1996, III, no. R395, p. 1252, repr., and mentioned under no. R43, p. 1160.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department