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Entretiens amoureux (copy 1)
Entered January 2022; revised February 2022

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on canvas

45.7 x 54 cm

 

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

Landscape with Amorous Couples and Two Children with a Dog

 

PROVENANCE

Paris, collection of Jules Strauss (1861-1943; banker). His sale, Galerie Georges Charpentier, May 27, 1949, lot 41: "WATTEAU (attribué à Jean-Antoine) . . . Entretiens amoureux. Dans un jardin, au bord d’un ruisseau, trois couples sont réunis. Au centre, en jupe blanche, une jeune femme est assise auprès d’un soupirant en habit brun. A gauche, vu de dos, une élégante en robe bleu, échange des propos avec un homme coiffé d’un toquet. Au second plan, debout, une autre femme en robe rose, auprès d’un galant, en veste jaune. A droite, deux enfants jouent avec un chien.
            Toile. Haut., 0^m 45 Larg., 0^m 54. Cadre en bois sculpté. Voir la reproduction, pl. IX. Composition gravé par Liotard d’après une peinture de la dimension de l’estampe (o m. 365 x o m. 470) tiré du cabinet du peintre J.-B. Massé.” The painting b''ought in.

Paris, collection of Jules Strauss. His sale, Paris, Palais Galliera, March 7, 1961, lot 28: “WATTEAU (Attribué à Jean-Antoine) . . . Entretiens amoureux. Dans un jardin, au bord d’un ruisseau, trois couples sont réunis: au centre, en jupe blanche, une jeune femme est assise auprès d'un soupirant en habit brun et rose. A gauche, vue de dos, une élégante en robe bleu, échange des propos avec un homme coiffé d’un toquet. Au second plan, debout, une autre femme en robe rose, auprès  d’un galant, en manteau jaune. À droite, deux enfants jouent avec un chien devant les marches d'un édifice. Toile. Haut., 0^m 45; Larg., 0^m 54. Cadre en bois sculpté.” cf: Watteau par M^me Hélène ADHÉMAR. . . Gravé par J.-M. LIOTARD, . . . disparue après la vente Calonne (1788, n^o 232). Est-ce celui de la collection Jules Strauss?" Sold for 20,000 francs.

London, sale, Sotheby’s, May 23, 2001, lot 30: “Jean Antoine Watteau . . . LANDSCAPE WITH AMOROUS COUPLES AND TWO CHILDREN WITH A DOG (ENTRETIENS AMOUREUX”) / oil on canvas / 18 by 21 ¼ in.   45.7 by 54 cm.
            Despite discrepancies in the measurements and the cautious assessment of Adhémar and Macchia (see Literature and note below) the present work would appear to be the autograph painting by Watteau engraved by Liotard in 1731. The print was advertised in the Mercure de France with the title “Entretiens Amoureux” and was noted as being in the collection of the engraver Jean Baptiste Massé.
            The painting next appeared in the sale of the Duc de Grammont in 1775 and was described as “un mezetin et une jeune femme se proménant dans un jardin. Deux autres figures de caractères et deux femmes assises. Au côté opposé deux enfants près d’un piédestal ou est représenté un lion [a mezetin and a young woman walking in a garden. Two other characters and two women seated. On the opposite side two children near a pedestal with a lion on top],” with the size 35.1 by 43.2 cm.
            Four years later, in 1779, the painting appeared in the Abbé de Gevigney sale with the measurements 37.8 by 45.9 cm. In the catalogue it was noted that the picture came from the Duc de Grammont collection, and had been “enlevé avec tout le succès possible de bois sur toile”. From de Gevigney the painting is then listed in the Calonne sale of 1788 with the following description, “l’intérieur d’un parc, où l’on voit huit figures h’hommes [sic], de femmes & d’enfants qui se promenent.” It is after this sale that the painting disappears for over a century. Although it is mentioned by Goncourt in 1875 . . . he was unaware of the painting’s whereabouts and does not have any further provenance to add.
            Finally, the painting reappears in a 1928 exhibition organized by the Ville de Paris in conjunction with the Musée du Louvre . . . where it is catalogued as “Watteau, un exemplaire des Entretiens Amoureux, toile 46 x 56 cm . . . ancienne collections de Gevigney (1er décembre 1779) et de Calonne (21 avril 1788)” and lent by the great Parisian collector Jules Strauss.
            The reappearance of the painting after such a long period of time and the fact that the dimensions are almost 10 cm. larger in both height and width concerned scholars who began to question the provenance put forth by Strauss and Réau in both the 1928 exhibition and in Réau’s catalogue . . . where he confirms that the painting belonging to Strauss is one and the same with the Massé-Grammont-Gevigney picture. However, in this listing Réau makes no mention of the change in dimensions. Early measurements of the painting hover around 36.5 by 47 cm. whereas in the 1928 exhibition the measurements are listed as 46 by 55 cm. Adhémar and Macchia . . . cast some doubt that the painting included in the Calonne sale and the painting belonging to Jules Strauss are one and the same. The primary basis for their theory is the discrepancy in measurements. It is plausible that this inconsistency is due to inaccurate methods of measurement in the eighteenth century. Provenance . . .Exhibited . . . Literature     $30,00-40,000.” Bought by Derek Johns Ltd., London.

 

EXHIBITIONS

Paris, Ville de Paris, La Saison de Bagatelle, Peintres de jardins, June-July 1928, cat. 93, as by Watteau, Entretiens amoureux, lent by Jules Strauss.

Paris, Galerie André J. Seligmann, Réhabilitation du sujet, 1934, cat. 64.

 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 1: 262, under cat. 124.

Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 123.

Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 125.

Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 163.

Ferré, Watteau (1972), under cat. B 90.

           

REMARKS

There has been a general critical reluctance to accept this version of Watteau’s Entretiens amoureux as an autograph work. Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, as well as Réau, listed the work without demur, but Adhémar, followed by Macchia and Montagni, questioned it. Also Ferré dismissed it. Roland Michel described Watteau’s original as lost, thus dismissing the Strauss version. Glorieux’s and Temperini’s silence conveys their negative view of the work.

 

In addition to being approximately 10 cm larger in both height and width than Watteau’s original painting, its execution leaves much to be desired. For a long time the details—especially the faces and hands—were blurred and the overall surface was oviously overpainted. But when the painting was stripped in about 2001, what remained was an unexciting work with great losses throughout the composition. On the other hand, in a letter dated June 4, 2001, Derek Johns, its owner, claimed that “recent conservation has revealed evidence that the present picture has indeed been transferred from panel to canvas." If so, that would help strengthen its otherwise dubious claim to being Watteau’s original painting.

The ex-Strauss painting is similar to another copy that appeared for sale in 2001 (copy 3): they both are in the same direction, which is Watteau’s direction as well, and they share essentially the same color scheme for the clothing. But the Strauss-Jones painting is a fuller copy and includes the building and children.

 

 

Entretiens amoureux (copy 2)
Entered January 2022

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on copper

37.4 x 44 cm

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

A Fête champêtre

 

PROVENANCE

London, sale, Sotheby’s Olympia, July 8, 2003, lot 489: ”The Property of a Lady  . . .  FOLLOWER OF JEAN-BAPTISTE PATER / A FÊTE CHAMPÊTRE, oil on copper, in an English carved and gilt wood frame /  37 by 44 cm; 14¾ by 17¼ in /  £2,000-3,000   US $3,250 – 4,000  / €2,800-4,200.” The painting bought in.

London, sale, Sotheby’s Olympia, July 6, 2004, lot 586: ”Follower of Jean-Baptiste Pater,   . . . A fête champêtre, oil on copper, height 14.7 in; Width 17.3 in. Height 37.4 cm; Width 4 cm. Est. 1,000-1,500 GBP (1,830 – 2,745 USD).” The painting sold for £1,440.

 

REMARKS

This painting is approximately the same size as Watteau’s original composition. However, as the reversed direction shows, it was based on Liotard’s engraving. While it is a relatively faithful copy, nonetheless the copyist introduced a number of changes, especially at the left side. The copyist eliminated the standing child, the steps and columns of the building, and the sculpture of the lion on a pedestal. Also he rearranged the landscape, adding a dense clump of trees to replace the building, and changed the arrangement of trees on the opposite side. Not least, the copyist added a continuous line of houses across the distant hill in a manner foreign to Watteau.

 

 

Entretiens amoureux (copy 3)
Entered January 2022; revised February 2022

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on canvas

30 x 42 cm

 

PROVENANCE

Paris, Binoche et Giquello,  October 15, 2021, lot 9: “École Française du XVIIIe  siècle, entourage d’Antoine  WATTEAU / Entretiens amoureux / Toile 30 x42 cm Restaurations 1 200 /  1 500 €.”

 

REMARKS

 

This cheerful painting is similar to the copy from Jules Strauss’ collection: they both are in the same direction, which was the direction of Watteau’s original painting and, strikingly, they share essentially the same color scheme for the clothing. But the Binoche et Giguello version is more abbreviated: the copyist omitted the building at the right (although the lion has been retained) and he also eliminated the two children and dog that Watteau placed at the right, elements that are still present in the Strauss version.