Fêtes Vénitiennes is a 1719 painting by Antoine Watteau, now in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, to which it was bequeathed in 1861 by Lady Murray of Henderland, widow of John Murray, Lord Murray. It takes its title from a 1732 engraving of the work by Laurent Cars and is derived from the Venetian styles of dress and dancing shown in the work, the former inspired by the commedia dell'arte.[1] It belongs to the fêtes galantes genre created by Watteau.[2]
| Fêtes Vénitiennes | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Antoine Watteau |
| Year | 1719 |
| Catalogue | H 25; G 135; DV 6; R 146; HA 197; EC 180; F A34; RT 96 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 56 cm × 46 cm (22 in × 18 in) |
| Location | National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh |
| Accession | NG 439 |
The main dancer in the centre was thought to be the Comédie-Française actress Charlotte Desmares, a mistress of the Duc d'Orleans, whilst some identify the dancer in the black hat as the Flemish painter Nicolas Vleughels, a friend of Watteau. These two dancers are shown dancing a minuet, with other figures sitting in the background. These include a man courting a woman, two women talking to an actor and a presumed self-portrait of the painter as a musician holding a set of bagpipes – these had had a sexual symbolism since the Middle Ages, such as in Hieronymus Bosch's The Garden of Earthly Delights. Behind this seated group are two more people and a fountain.[3]
Description
editThe main dancer who occupies the center of the painting would be the actress Christine Charlotte Desmares, who was the lover of the Duke of Orleans, with whom she had had, in 1702, a bastard daughter, Angélique de Froissy.
The dancer in the black hat facing her has been identified as Nicolas Vleughels, Flemish painter, friend and owner of Watteau, who rose to the rank of director of the Academy of Rome (1725–36). His clothing seems humorous and is perhaps inspired by Italian comedians, which would explain the title distributed by the engraver Laurent Cars.
Behind this couple dancing the minuet, sit a whole series of participants. The painter himself represented himself seated, as a musician holding a kind of bagpipe, also called a musette. Since the Middle Ages, the bagpipe was recognized as an instrument of sexual symbolism; Jêrome Bosch included it as such in his famous triptych of the Garden of Earthly Delights. Another cavalier is courting a lady and two other ladies are talking to an actor. Behind, we see another couple, standing in front of a fountain.
Watteau treats various materials in a similar way, both taffeta and water, people and statues, foliage and curls, thus succeeding in giving unity to the painting.[4]
References
edit- ^ Room, Adrian (2000). A Dictionary of Art Titles. Jefferson, N.C.; London: McFarland & Co. p. 90. ISBN 0-7864-0770-0. OCLC 1033638893 – via the Internet Archive.
- ^ "Catalogue entry".
- ^ Baur, Eva-Gesine (2005). "El rococó y el neoclasicismo". Los maestros de la pintura occidental (in Spanish). Taschen. p. 350. ISBN 3-8228-4744-5.
- ^ Maestros de la Pintura Occidental / Tomo 1 y 2/ Volume 1 and 2. Ingo F. Walther. Taschen España. 2005. ISBN 978-3-8228-4744-2. OCLC 221164085.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
Further reading
edit- Adhémar, Hélène (1950). Watteau; sa vie, son oeuvre (in French). Includes "L’univers de Watteau", an introduction by René Huyghe. Paris: P. Tisné. pp. 46, 48, 49, 56, 104, 120, 143, 186, 228; cat. no. 197; pl. 129. OCLC 853537.
- Agratina, E. E. (2016). "Тема комедии дель арте в творчестве Антуана Ватто" [Commedia dell’arte as reflected in Antoine Watteau's Works]. ACADEMIA: Танец. Музыка. Театр. Образование (in Russian) (2 [42]): 45–59. ISSN 2227-4855 – via eLibrary.ru.
- Bailey, Colin B., ed. (2003). The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting (exhibition catalogue). New Haven, London, Ottawa: Yale University Press, National Gallery of Canada. pp. 138–139, 356–357. ISBN 0-88884-767-X. OCLC 51330581.
- Börsch-Supan, Helmut [in German] (2000). Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721. Meister der französischen Kunst (in German). Köln: Könemann. pp. 88–89, 91, 94; fig. 79. ISBN 3-8290-1630-1. OCLC 925262301.
- Botticelli to Braque: Masterpieces from the National Galleries of Scotland (exhibition catalogue). Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland. 2015. pp. 11, 54–55, cat. no. 16. ISBN 978-1-906270-77-3. OCLC 1149998744 – via the Internet Archive.
- Bouvy, Eugène (1921). "" Fêtes Vénitiennes "". Études italiennes. 3. Paris: Ernest Leroux: 65–82. OCLC 1085980421 – via the Internet Archive.
- Brookner, Anita (1985) [1967]. Watteau. Colour Library of Art. Feltham: Hamlyn. pp. 12, 14–15, 31–33; colorpl. 35. ISBN 0-600-50156-6. OCLC 922565837 – via the Internet Archive.
- Brookner, Anita (1997). "The Willing Victim". Soundings. London: Harvill Press. pp. 129–135. ISBN 1-86046-388-6. OCLC 1036873749 – via the Internet Archive.
- Bryson, Norman (1981). Word and Image: French Painting of the Ancien Régime. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 67–68. ISBN 0-521-27654-3. OCLC 1178656890 – via the Internet Archive.
- Bryson, Norman (Spring 1981). "Watteau and Reverie: A Test Case in "Combined Analysis"". The Eighteenth Century. 22 (2): 97–126. JSTOR 41467239.
- Camesasca, Ettore [in Portuguese] (1971). The Complete Painting of Watteau. Classics of the World's Great Art. Introduction by John Sutherland. New York: Harry N. Abrams. p. 119, cat. no. 180. ISBN 0810955253. OCLC 143069 – via the Internet Archive.
- Cassin, Michael (2000). Art and ...: The Expressive Arts and the Collections of the National Galleries of Scotland. National Galleries of Scotland. ISBN 1903278074. OCLC 1179246833.
- Chegodaev, A. D. [in Russian] (1963). Антуан Ватто [Antoine Watteau]. Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 20, 31; ill. 33. OCLC 40315312.
- Clark, Kenneth (1969). Civilisation: A Personal View. New York, Evanstone: Harper and Row. pp. 232, 237; colourpl. 32 – via the Internet Archive.
- Catalogue of the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh. Glasgow: J. Hedderwick & Sons. 1914. p. 137, cat. no. 55. OCLC 848182530 – via the Internet Archive.
- Clarke, Michael, ed. (2012) [2000]. A Companion Guide to the National Gallery of Scotland. Edinburgh: National Galleries of Scotland. p. 118. ISBN 9781903278116. OCLC 1148620386 – via the Internet Archive.
- Cohen, Sarah R. (2000). Art, Dance, and the Body in French Culture of the Ancien Régime. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 247–249, color pl. VII. ISBN 0-521-64046-6. LCCN 99015469.
- Crow, Thomas E. (Autumn 1985). "Codes of Silence: Historical Interpretation and the Art of Watteau". Representations (12): 2–14. doi:10.2307/3043773. JSTOR 3043773.
- Crow, Thomas E. (1989). "1707? — Fêtes Galantes". In Hollier, Denis (ed.). A New History of French Literature (1. Harvard University Press pbk. ed.). Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp. 402–409. ISBN 0-674-61565-4. OCLC 1150875420 – via the Internet Archive.
- Dacier, Émile; Vuaflart, Albert (1922). Jean de Julienne et les graveurs de Watteau au XVIII-e siècle. III. Catalogue (in French). Paris: M. Rousseau. cat. no. 6. OCLC 1039156495.
- Elkins, James (1999). Why Are Our Pictures Puzzles?: On the Modern Origins of Pictorial Complexity. New York: Routledge. pp. 168–169. ISBN 0-415-91942-8. OCLC 1151773774 – via the Internet Archive.
- Ferré, Jean, ed. (1972). Watteau (in French). Madrid: Éditions Athena. cat. no. A34. OCLC 906101135.
- Ferré, Jean (1979). Watteau (artbook). Paris: Editions de Vergennes. p. 34. OCLC 1151684010 – via the Internet Archive.
- Gauthier, Maximilien (1959). Watteau. Les Grands Peintres. Paris: Larousse. Pl. 45. OCLC 1151682363 – via the Internet Archive.
- Gillet, Louis (1921). Watteau: un grand maître du XVIIIe siècle. Paris: Plon. pp. 120–121. OCLC 1102350703 – via the Internet Archive.
- Goncourt, Edmond de (1875). Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau. Paris: Rapilly. pp. 125–126; cat. no. 135. OCLC 1041772738 – via the Internet Archive.
- Grasselli, Margaret Morgan; Rosenberg, Pierre; Parmantier, Nicole; et al. (1984). Watteau, 1684-1721 (PDF) (exhibition catalogue). Washington: National Gallery of Art. ISBN 0-89468-074-9. OCLC 557740787 – via the National Gallery of Art archive.
- Hédouin, Pierre [in French] (30 November 1845). "Watteau: catalogue de son oeuvre". L'Artiste (in French). pp. 78–80 – via Gallica. p. 78, cat. no. 25.
{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Hédouin, Pierre (1856). Mosaïque. Peintres, musiciens, littérateurs, artistes dramatiques à partir du 15e siècle jusqu'à nos jours. Paris: Heugel. p. 97, cat. no. 25. OCLC 1157159285 – via the Internet Archive.
- Huyghe, René (1970) [1950]. Watteau: The Artist and His Drawings. Translated by Barbara Bray. New York: Braziller. OCLC 556662493 – via the Internet Archive. For the original French edition, see Adhémar 1950, pp. 1–60.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) - Josz, Virgile (1903). Watteau. Moeurs du XVIIIe siècle (in French). Paris: Société du Mercure de France. pp. 316–318, 321. OCLC 900757508 – via Google Books.
- Josz, Virgile (1904). Antoine Watteau (in French). Paris: H. Piazza et cie. p. 140. OCLC 963518006 – via the Internet Archive.
- Kalnein, Wend Graf [in German]; Levey, Michael (1972). Art and Architecture of the Eighteenth Century in France. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 20, 360 n. 33. OCLC 1008263215. SBN 14-056037-8.
- Lauterbach, Iris (2008). Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721. Back to Visual Basics. Köln: Taschen. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-3-8228-5318-4. OCLC 1164836547 – via the Internet Archive.
- Ledbury, Mark (2001). "Vleughels, Nicolas". In Jiminez, Jill Berk (ed.). Dictionary of Artists' Models. London, Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn. pp. 552–554. ISBN 1-57958-233-8 – via Google Books.
- Levey, Michael (1966). Rococo to Revolution: Major Trends in Eighteenth-Century Painting. London: Thames and Hudson. OCLC 1036855531 – via the Internet Archive.
- Macmillan, Duncan (Autumn 1999). "The iconography of moral sense: Gavin Hamilton's sentimental heroines". The British Art Journal. 1 (1): 46–55. JSTOR 41615351.
- Michel, Christian (2008). Le "célèbre Watteau". Genève: Droz. pp. 85, 152. ISBN 978-2-600-01176-1. OCLC 1158803919.
- Minor, Vernon Hyde (1999). Baroque & Rococo: Art & Culture. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. pp. 192–193, fig. 5.29. ISBN 0-13-085649-5 – via the Internet Archive.
- National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, ed. (1997). Concise Catalogue of Paintings (collection catalogue). Edinburgh: Trustees of the National Galleries of Scotland. p. 370. ISBN 0-903598-65-5.
- Nemilova, I. S. (1964). Ватто и его произведения в Эрмитаже (Watteau et son œuvre à l'Ermitage) [Watteau and His Works in the Hermitage] (in Russian). Leningrad: Sovetskiy hudozhnik. pp. 146, 178 n. 26. OCLC 67871342.
- Newton, Eric (1960). The Arts of Man: An Anthology and Interpretation of Great Works of Art. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society. pp. 191–192, pl. 99. OCLC 1028182838.
- Plax, Julie Anne (2000). Watteau and the Cultural Politics of Eighteenth-Century France. Cambridge etc.: Cambridge University Press. pp. 128, 130, 133, 135. ISBN 0-521-64268-X. OCLC 803847893.
- Plomp, Michiel; Sonnabend, Martin (2016). Watteau: Der Zeichner (exhibition catalogue) (in German). München: Hirmer. ISBN 978-3-941399-66-2.
- Posner, Donald (1984). Antoine Watteau. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 163, 200, 226, 240–241, 243, 248, 251. ISBN 0-8014-1571-3. OCLC 10736607 – via the Internet Archive.
- Réau, Louis (1928–1930). "Watteau". In Dimier, Louis (ed.). Les peintres français du XVIII-e siècle: Histoire des vies et catalogue des œuvres (in French). Vol. 1. Paris: G. Van Oest. pp. 12, 43; cat. no. 146. OCLC 564527521.
- Roland Michel, Marianne (1984). Watteau (in French). Paris: Flammarion. pp. 52, 65, 171–172, 223, 229, 266, 299; pl. 164; colourpl. I. ISBN 9782080120205. OCLC 417153549.
- Schneider, Pierre (1967). The World of Watteau. New York: Time-Life Books. p. 69. OCLC 680174683 – via the Internet Archive.
- Schmierer, Elisabeth (1995). "Campras and Watteau 'Fêtes Vénitiennes': Zur Problematik eines Bezugs". In Schmierer, Elisabeth; et al. (eds.). Tönen, Farben, Formen, über Musik und die bildenden Künste. Laaber: Laaber. pp. 203–229.
- Sund, Judy (September 2016). "Why So Sad? Watteau's Pierrots". The Art Bulletin. 98 (3): 321–347. doi:10.1080/00043079.2016.1143752. JSTOR 43947931. S2CID 193504216.
- Temperini, Renaud (2002). Watteau. Maîtres de l'art (in French). Paris: Gallimard. p. 146; cat. no. 96. ISBN 9782070116867. OCLC 300225840.
- Vetter, Andreas W. (2005). …von sanften Tönen bezaubert!: Antoine Watteau – "Venezianische Feste" (exhibition catalogue) (in German). Braunschweig: Herzog Anton-Ulrich Museum. ISBN 3-922279-61-9.
- Vidal, Mary (1992). Watteau's Painted Conversations: Art, Literature, and Talk in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century France. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. pp. 36–38, 114–115, 118, 151; pl. 46, 117. ISBN 0-300-05480-7. OCLC 260176725.
- Walsh, Linda (1999). "Subjects, Society, Style: Changing Evaluations of Watteau and His Art". In Barker, Emma; Webb, Nick; Woods, Kim (eds.). The Changing Status of the Artist. Art and Its Histories. Vol. 2. New Haven, London: Yale University Press. pp. 220–248. ISBN 0-300-07740-8. OCLC 1148191287 – via the Internet Archive.
- Wilenski, Reginald Howard (1931). French Painting. Boston: Hale, Cushman & Flint. pp. 111–112. OCLC 1045602541 – via the Internet Archive.
- Walther, Ingo F., ed. (1999). Masterpieces of Western Art: A History of Art in 900 Individual Studies from the Gothic to the Present Day. Cologne, London et al.: Taschen. pp. 350–351. ISBN 3-8228-7031-5 – via the Internet Archive.
- Zeri, Federico (2000) [first published in Italian in 1998]. Watteau: The Embarkment for Cythera. One Hundred Paintings. Richmond Hill, Ontario: NDE Pub. pp. 16, 28–30, 45, 47. ISBN 1553210182. OCLC 48003550 – via the Internet Archive.
- Zimmermann, E. Heinrich [in German] (1912). Watteau: des Meisters Werke in 182 Abbildungen. Klassiker der Kunst (in German). Vol. 21. Stuttgart, Leipzig: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt. pp. 47, 187. OCLC 561124140.