Cleveland Museum of Art

Study for "The Romancer" (Le Conteur)

Jean-Antoine Watteau

Date

c. 1716

Medium

red chalk; red and black chalk (upper left figure)

Culture

France, 18th century

Department

Drawings

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This sheet was a preparatory study for the painting The Romancer . An actor in the costume of Mezzetin, a stock character of the commedia dell’arte (a type of satirical theatrical entertainment of Italian origin popular in aristocratic circles in 18th-century France), interrupts a guitarist with a bold sexual advance. Another actor dressed as the French pantomime stock character Pierrot peers lasciviously over the young musician’s shoulder. A more detailed study of Pierrot’s head occupies the upper left corner of the sheet, demonstrating Jean Antoine Watteau’s experimentation with how to most effectively depict a lecherous gaze. Jean Antoine Watteau likely drew this sheet from a combination of life study and imagination, working from a model and adding other elements of his own creation.

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