Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2015
Meet the Masters: Highlights from the Scottish National Gallery
Watteau’s Fêtes vénitiennes
Josephine Touma
27/28 May 2015
Lecture summary:
Antoine Watteau, considered one of the originators of the rococo style in painting, created Fêtes
vénitiennes in around 1718-19, at the height of his career. This lecture will outline Watteau’s
career, the reception of his work, and the possible meaning of this, one of the artist’s finest
pictures. I’ll trace some of the recurring themes, techniques and motifs that appear in Fetes
venitiennes, arguing that Watteau’s paintings are above all products of the imagination for the
imagination. As much as they refer to the contemporary social mores and the theatrical culture of
Watteau’s time, they are never a simple reflection of his world – they appealed, and continue to
appeal, to the viewer’s own sense of curiosity and delight.
Slide list:
All artworks oil on canvas unless otherwise noted.
Antoine Watteau, Fête vénitiennes, 1718-19, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh
Claude Gillot, Les deux carrosses, c. 1707 and Le tombeau de Maître André, c. 1716-17, both
Musée du Louvre
Watteau, Harlequin, Emperor of the Moon, c. 1708, Musée des Beaux-Arts, N
Louis Jacob (after Antoine Watteau), Départ des comédiens italiéns en 1697, 1729 (painting c.
1703-05), engraving
Bernard Picart, Le Théâtre de la Foire, frontispiece, 1730, engraving, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Watteau, The Island of Cythera, c. 1709-10, Staedel Museum Frankfurt
Watteau, La Perspective c. 1715, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Nicolas or Noël Cochin, garden scene, plate for La Finta Pazza, 1645, engraving, Bibliothèque
nationale de France, Paris
Watteau, La rêve de l'artiste, date unknown, oil on canvas, Private collection, London
After Claude III Audran, ‘Saturne’ (or ‘Decembre’), Portiéres des dieux, Gobelins manufactory,
designed 1699, woven 1740-1760, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Claude III Audran, sketch for tapestry design, Les Spectacles series, c.1700, Nationalmuseum,
Stockholm
Watteau, Singerie ceiling, 1707-1708, Hôtel de Nointel, Paris (in situ)
Watteau, La faune, and L’Enjoleur 1707-1708, oil on panel, Musée de Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes
Louis Crépy (after Antoine Watteau), The Swing, 1727-1728, etching, British Museum, London
Watteau, The Bower, c.1716, red chalk, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Proudly sponsored by
Peter Paul Rubens, The Disembarkation at Marseilles (Marie de Medici cycle), c, 1622-25, Musée
du Louvre
Watteau, The Portal of Valenciennes, 1709-10, Frick Collection, New York
After Watteau, Les Jaloux (the jealous ones), engraving
Watteau, The pilgrimage to Cythera, 1717, Louvre
Titian or Giorgione, Pastoral concert, c. 1510, Musee du Louvre
David Teniers the Younger, Flemish Kermesse, 1652, Museum of Fine Arts, Brussels
Peter Paul Rubens, The Garden of Love, 1633, Museo del Prado
Watteau, Love in the French theatre, 1710s, oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
Watteau, Assembly in a park, c. 1716-17, Louvre
Watteau, The faux pas, 1716-18, Louvre
François Boucher (after Watteau), Portrait of Watteau, 1726, etching
Nicolas Vleughels, Self-portrait, pastel, Musee du Louvre
Edme Jeaurat after Antoine Pesne, Nicolas Vleughels, engraving, 1725
Watteau, Two studies of women, red chalk, New York, Woodner Collection
Watteau, Studies of a man and woman, red, black and white chalk, Goethe Museum, Weimar
Watteau, Two studies of a caped man, Louvre
Watteau, Study of a dancer, red, black and white chalk, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris
Watteau, Study of a seated woman, red, black and white chalk, private collection
Watteau, Two studies of a musette player, red, black and white chalk Louvre
Watteau, Gersaint’s Signboard, 1720-21, oil on canvas, Charlottenburg Palace, Berlin
Reference:
Julie Anne Plax, Watteau and the cultural politics of eighteenth-century France, Cambridge
University Press, 2000
Donald Posner, Antoine Watteau, Cornell University Press, 1984
Pierre Rosenberg, ed. Vies Anciennes de Watteau. Paris: Hermann, 1984.
Pierre Rosenberg and Louis-Antoine Prat. Antoine Watteau (1684-1721): Catalogue raisonné des
dessins. 3 vols. Paris: Gallimard/Electa, 1996.
Mary Vidal, Watteau’s Painted Conversations, Yale University Press, 1992
For access to all past lecture notes visit:
http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/meet-the-masters/