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Femme A Demi-Nue by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) French School

Black and red chalk on buff paper. 11.1" high by 9.13" wide. 

Often exhibited and often reproduced, this is deservedly one of the most famous drawings of Watteau, whose draughtsman's style it typifies perfectly: a deeply explored sense of color—thanks to the so-called "three-crayon" technique, in which white chalk is applied on a background of colored paper (a technique that Watteau had greatly admired in the drawings of P.P. Rubens), a sovereign grace of movements and postures, and an exceptional suppleness of execution. There are many sheets of sketches on which the artist gave rein to his imagination in composing a painting and animating it with figures. But his drawings were not deliberately conceived as preparatory studies for painted works. This one, for example, is not directly connected with a painting, but is merely one of the series of studies based on the theme of Nudes on a Chaise Longue (cf. K. T. Parker and J. Mathey, Antoine Watteau. Catalogue complet de sen oeuvre dessine [Complete Catalogue of his Drawings], Paris, 1957, I, No. 522 repr.)

Known as a painter of "fetes galantes" (courtly festivals), it was in this capacity that the artist entered the Academy of Painting in 1717. True, Watteau had just begun to create a new repertoire of subjects, difficult to define—because his vision of the world was so personal and subjective. He sought to suggest an atmosphere of happiness, midway between dream and reality, and always fraught with a certain melancholy. This is exemplified in the Embarquement pour l'ile de Cythere (Embarcation to the Island of Cythera), also known, according to a possible double interpretation, according to a possible double interpretation, as Pelerinage a l'le de Cythere (Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera)

This drawing of a half-nude woman was acquired in 1761 at an anonymous sale held in Amsterdam, which later proved to be the first sale of the collections of Gabriel Huquier (1695-1771), an Orleans engraver who was also a print-seller in Paris.
298953
Viewed: Mar 28, 2024
Updated: Dec 31, 2023
Priced: Aug 07, 2022

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