Dear Whom It May Concern,

- ARTHI 3554 Hist & Tech The Old Masters Dwg

Estelle Song

Prof. M. K.

ART HISTORY 3554-001

7 December 2018

Watteau's Eyes

Jean-Antoine Watteau, the "painter of reverie... [who painted] something only to be felt, to be dreamed" (Wile 319) was not one of my favorite masters of all time until I saw his drawings, which was introduced by Kevin Wolff, my previous drawing instructor who has immensely influenced my artistic practice and style. The characteristics of Rococo such as flamboyant and whimsical depiction of imagery and bright color palette always rather appear to be pretentious and ostentatious to me, therefore when I saw Watteau's paintings, I surely appreciated the beauty of the time and subject he has captured in his work, yet not captivated enough to study him further. As a requirement for the class, I had to study and copy several drawings of masters, at least three drawings, per week; observing my heavy and narrow preference towards works from 'classical period' like drawings by Raphael, Giorgione and Ingres, Kevin shared his book of Watteau's drawings and I was mesmerized by his use of lines and chalk techniques. Gratefully, there are quite a lot of Watteau's drawings still available and choosing just one drawing among several masterpieces is almost painfully difficult for me; the Eight Studies of Heads, currently owned by Musée du Louvre, I believe, shows the best artistic quality and draftsmanship of Watteau's.

Born in 1684, even though Watteau is considered as "one of the most brilliant and original artists of the eighteenth century" (Stein, 2003), his life and characteristics rather resemble those of nineteenth-century Romanticists' and scarcely recorded. From the town of Valenciennes, France, Watteau was a son of a carpenter, and considering him being sent to "study with an obscure local painter in age of fourteen... [and eventually] fled to Paris [to escape the importunities of his father]" (Kent 36) his early life and initial training was not as easy and supportive as Degas'. At the age of twenty-eight, Watteau was officially "admitted to the Royal Academy in 1712" (Wile 320) but until then, he was employed "in the mass production of crude copies of devotional paintings" (Stein, 2003), worked for Claude Gillot and Claude Audran III, which is quite unconventional. Still Watteau developed his own style of "increasingly incorporating theatrical subject matter and designs based on the airy arabesques" (Stein, 2003) which perfectly satisfied the demands of the "wealthiest and most powerful aristocrats['] staging... staggeringly lavish entertainments.... [and] gloriously excessive style of amusement" (DeJean 39)

Hugely inspired by Rubens, Watteau continued to copy works of Rubens and Italian artists from sixteenth-century, and those personal studies assisted him to achieve clear lines, accuracy in human anatomy and details. For instance, in the Eight Studies of Heads, the depiction of hats' form and drapery is unbelievably meticulous, as Hale mentioned, "Watteau could not have run his lines so nicely... unless he had practiced doing it many times before" (Hale 54) Through practice, Watteau was able to put just enough weight on each lines he drew to create reliable forms that are not heavily belonged on the surface of a paper, even having its own atmosphere and lightness without losing the form and accuracy, embodying great immediacy and energy of human figures.

Especially in his studies of head series, by carefully controlling the weight of the line, Watteau was able to suggest rest of the form without drawing the whole figure: figure on the bottom right (Figure E) for example, with a red reversed V shape underneath the laces, softer and lighter line than those used on the face of the figure, he indicated the way her whole torso is facing towards. Watteau beautifully captured the lightness of the laces which almost disappears on the left yet put an extremely delicate touch of black line on the right to imply shadow and to declare the form. The heaviness of line is immediately recognizable because Watteau used a short yet heavy black line indicating the shadow between the neck and laces right next to almost indistinguishably light black line, creating a contrast and depth; unfortunately, these breathtaking details and his ability to create forms with controlling weight of lines are less apparent in Watteau's paintings.

Watteau was titled as the ""painter of Fêtes galantes"" (Stein, 2003) due to his innovative subject matter, depiction of "reckless pleasure as no ruling class" (Kent 36) and rejection of "the notion that painting's end lay in narrative or discourse or reason" (Wile 320) in a theatrical setting. Despite of the subject being "too much removed [from life]" (Kent 36), by creating imagery with the compelling realism achieved through rigorous practice and studies in dry media - especially with "the technique of trois crayons, or three chalks"(Stein, 2003) Even though most of the individualistic facial features are unavailable in his paintings, yet the reason why those figures are recognizable is due to Watteau's perfect groundwork. Watteau's draftsmanship stands out the most in his drawings, which he used strictly chalks only on mostly neutral toned papers: similar to charcoal, chalks are softer than graphite, therefore marks can be smudged or removed, and because chalks are available in white and shades of red besides black, artist can achieve not only darkness and lightness of the figure but also vitality and coloristic effects in his or her drawing. The Eight Studies of Headsis drawn on a grey-toned paper with black chalk, two shades of red chalk, white chalk and stump: combining those three colors and neutral tone of the paper, Watteau successfully captured and "create[d] a convincing rendering of flesh tones" (Stein, 2003) which is essential in drawing human figures.

By using red chalks, Watteau was able to differentiate the figures' racial characteristics: on top left, three heads (Figure A, B and C) are of the black people, and even without the shades of red, because Watteau precisely illustrated distinctive facial features such as thicker eyelids, protruding eyeballs, lower dorsum with broader nostril and bigger lips, one can still tell difference between those with rest of the heads - this shows Watteau's ability to illustrate from careful observation. Use of the shades of red for those heads with colored skin allowed him to portray sharp highlights on dark skin and by brightening around the figures to create contrast with white chalk, Watteau subtly yet certainly brought depiction of colored skin to perfection.

While Watteau's signature style is mainly from "a lightness and delicacy of manipulation, a dream-like poetic fancy" (Mollett 3) in an imaginative theatrical composition, the Eight Studies of Headsappears to be a preparation for paintings, a collection of "incisive rendering of figures drawn from life" (Stein, 2003) which he could had used as reference. Estimated to be drawn in 1715 or 1716, because drawing figures from life with models was restricted at the time unless from figure sessions from royal academy, these rather quick sketches of people from streets and theaters along with his continuous replication of masters' drawings, should have helped Watteau to practice illustrating human figures. The unfinished sketch of a white male figure on bottom left (Figure H) of the Eight Studies of Headsshows Watteau's procedure of drawing a head, and also suggests that he was unable to finish the sketch because the person he was depicting, was unavailable. The speed of these drawings Watteau went through, can be also observed on one of the black heads on top left (Figure C) especially from rough and strong lines - almost like a scribble - on the figure's hair, which is rarely seen on his other drawings; these unusual use of lines adds coarse and thick texture to the figure, yet it could have been due to lack of time, since unlike other heads, his construction lines are clearly visible.

Watteau lived rather a short life - he died in 1721 at the age of thirty-six due to illness and physical weakness existed ever since his childhood and triggered by "sufferings from hunger and cold" (Kent 36) when he first moved to Paris. He was always aware of his condition, and it could have had affected Watteau's choice of subject matter, illustrating beautiful yet meaningless and mortal fantasies - "faces obscured, costumes fantastic... [Watteau's] attempts to capture... a 'mood'" (Wile 319) Watteau painted until the very last year of his life, and his late manner towards depicting faces can be found in the Eight Studies of Heads. Female figure wearing a hat (Figure E, F and G) in this drawing shows Watteau's distinctive treatment of the faces, "veiled with translucent shadows and only the nose, one cheekbone, and one eye touched with light" (Grasselli 122): those heads are clearly depicting different individuals, however, the way Watteau treated them is almost identical. It is highly unlikely for this study to be done within a day, yet Watteau maintained the principal light coming from the left, "above, and in front (most artists' favorite light)" (Hale 72) for all of the heads and even for the small study of a hand holding a mask, which creates a sense of unison for this drawing, despite of different racial and gender features.

What made Watteau exclusive from other artists from same period is that his style met the demands of fashionable French aristocrats to capture "the creation at that time of a new type of history... the history of private life" (DeJean 40) and he was really good at it. Those qualities of extravagance are shown through garments the figures were wearing: made out of glossy fabrics in light and bright colors, Watteau depicted the fashion trend of the period "looser, softer, less rigid, and curvier - in a word, sexier" (DeJean 42) and even though the attires of figures in the Eight Studies of Headsare either omitted or simply illustrated, lavishness in those garments is still recognizable; for instance, the sheer, glistening white fabric the Figure F is wearing, is suggested by putting a very light layer of white chalk, on neutral toned paper which worked as the basis of flesh, and laying a heavier later of white chalk which indicates highlights that can be found on human body, such as collarbones. The richness of textiles and colors are portrayed much more effectively in Watteau's paintings than in drawings, however, his use and control of lines for depicting draperies is exceptional and cannot be seen in paintings.

Watteau's ingenuity was heavily supported by Pierre Crozat, a wealthy banker who supported financially and artistically: Watteau was able to study drawings of Rubens and sixteenth-century Italian artists' from Crozat's private collection, and he could afford "to enjoy for the remainder of his[Watteau's] life that luxury to which his eyes were attuned... [with] excitements of fashionable life" (Kent 36) which allowed Watteau to record the very moments of the time, adding realism to theatrical imagery that are far from life. Considering Watteau's career as an artist throughout his life who never worked for public institutions or depicted subjects in favor of the church, royal court or aristocratic patrons, the patronage of Crozat must have been a 'good deal' for Watteau because his works were "bought [by many indulgent friends] the minute he had finished them" (Brookner 9) His works were mostly commissioned and purchased by bourgeois of Paris like Crozat and Jean de Jullienne, yet Watteau left Crozat's sponsorship in 1720, possibly due to "wearied[ness] ... by the restraints and excitements of [the lifestyle of bourgeois]" (Kent 36) and or, due to his illness.

Despite of his short life time, Watteau's legacy and unique contribution are not only in form of drawings and paintings: the Fêtes galantes "was grounded in art (painterly and theatrical)... thanks to Watteau, art became more beautiful and nature more perfect" (Sund, 2009); Watteau is historically the first artist whoput an art dealer in charge of not only selling his works, but also providing place to live in exchange, like an artist-in-residence program. A type of dress that appears several times in Watteau's works - a "long dress with quaint wide pleats hanging from shoulder at the back" (Bureau, 1920) - is named after Watteau as Watteau dress,Watteaugown, or Watteau pleat. The technique of trois crayon, even though he did not invent the technique, "[Watteau's] name is always linked to the technique for his intuitive mastery of it" (Stein, 2003) which can be observed in the Eight Studies of Heads.

Watteau's trip to England in his last years in order to "seek the counsel of a noted London physician" (Kant 36) regarding his illness ended up with no improvement and eventually led to his death, and even what exactly happened in his deathbed is unknown; there are three different claims regarding Watteau's last words, one says "after a long illness, during which Watteau painted... died suddenly 'in [Gersaint's; an art dealer] arms'", another is that "Watteau occupied in painting of a Christ on the cross", and the other, that Watteau was "presented... the crucifix according to custom... [and] Watteau, observing it ill-carved, desired him [d'Argenville] to take it away" (Land 28) yet like his personal life, Watteau is "one of the most elusive of painters... [because] he gave his pictures no dates, and the titles" (Brookner 14) and moreover, destroyed several works of his own in order to "consolidate[ing] the myth that he painted only one kind of picture throughout his life.

Though some of his works are lost or poorly dated, Watteau's drawings such as the Eight Studies of Headsgive present audience how meticulous he was regarding drawing human figures and insight of how those poetic and dreamy images gained realism. Watteau created a beauty that is beyond physical beauty in his drawings with merely three, or four colors - if the color of paper he used is counted as a part of his palette as well - he captured the softness and vitality of human flesh and subtle details of garments of the time, which played a huge part in the age of extravagance in France. Despite of amorous and playful imagery he has depicted, Watteau was never married, and even in his drawings, it appears "as if an invisible wall separates the [Watteau] from the world he is painting" (Börsch-Supan 6) - beautiful yet too perfect to the point where the images become unrealistic, which fascinates me more.

Work Cited

Brookner, Anita, and Antoine Watteau. Watteau. Hamlyn, 1985.

Bureau, Paris. "Dresses : Notes from Paris Opening Show Use of Clinging

Draperies" Women's Wear, vol. 20, no. 47, Feb 27, 1920, pp.14.

Börsch-Supan, Helmut. Antoine Watteau: 1684-1721. H.F. Ullmann, 2013.

DeJean, Joan E. "Man of Mode: Watteau and the Gendering of Genre Painting." Studies in the

History of Art, vol. 72, 2007, pp. 38-47.

Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. "Eighteen Drawings by Antoine Watteau: A Chronological

Study." Master Drawings, vol. 31, no. 2, 1993, pp. 103-127.

Hale, Robert Beverly. Drawing Lessons from the Great Masters. Watson-Guptill, 1974.

Kent, Rockwell. World-Famous Paintings. Wise, 1947.

Land, Norman E. "FAMOUS LAST WORDS: NANNI GROSSO TO ANTOINE

WATTEAU" Source: Notes in the History of Art, vol. 34, no. 3, 2015, pp. 25-30. JSTOR,

JSTOR,www.jstor.org/stable/43287854.

Mollett, John W. "WATTEAU"New York Times (1857-1922), Nov 07, 1883, pp. 3. ProQuest,

https://proxy.artic.edu/login?url=https://search- proquest.com.proxy.artic.edu/docview/94201593?accountid=26320.

Stein, Perrin. "Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)." In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York:

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000-. October 2003.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/watt/hd_watt.htm

Sund, J. Middleman: Antoine Watteau and les charmes de la vie.The Art Bulletin, 91(1), 59-82.

2009.

Watteau, Jean-Antoine. Eight Studies of Heads. 1715, Musée du Louvre, Paris, France.

Wile, Aaron. "Watteau, Reverie, and Selfhood."The Art Bulletin, vol. 96, no. 3, 2014.