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Les Fatigues de la guerre (copy 1)
Entered May 2022; revised June 2022

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on panel

20. 3 x 29.9 cm or 19.1 x 30.5 cm

 

PROVENANCE

Paris, collection of M. Baudoin. His sale, Paris, February 15ff, 1770, lot 43: “Deux Tableaux très bien peints, dans le goût de Watteau: on en connoît les Estampes gravées d’après les originaux: l’une a pour titre les Fatigues, & l’autre les Délassemens de la Guerre. Ils sont sur bois, & chacun porte huit pouces de haut, sur onze pouces neuf lignes de large.” According to an annotated copy of  the sale catalogue in the Bibliothèque nationale, the pair sold for 240 livres to the dealer Menageot.

Paris, collection of the abbé de Gevigney. His sale, Paris, December 1-29, 1779, lot 528 [misprinted as 428]: Antoine Watteau. Deux Tableaux richement composés & enrichis d’un grand nombre de figures. L’un représente une Halte de Soldats sous une tente & sous des arbres; l’autre, les bagages de l‘armée qui défilent par un très gran vent, dont l’effet est rendu avec la plus grande verité; ils sont escortés par des troupes. Ces deux Tableaux qui sont gravés, joignent au mérite des productions de leur auteur, celui d’etre peints avec des couleurs très-claires qui ont conservé leur fraîcheur. Bois. H. 7 p. & demi, l. 12 p. & demi.”

 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné (1875), under cat. 55.

Le Blanc, Le Trésor de la curiosité (1857), 1: 162.

Portalis, Fragonard (1889).

Dacier, Vuafart, and Hérold, Jean de Julienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 1: 178; 3: under cat 138, under cat. 179; under cat. 216.

Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 42.

Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 95, cat. 96.

Sterling, Great French Paintings in the Hermitage (1958), 231 note 10.

Washington, Paris, and Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. 15. 

 

REMARKS

Until now the pair of pictures sold in 1770 and 1779 have not been identified as one and the same, yet they differ by only a pouce (2.54 cm.) in each direction, a very small difference indeed. Furthermore,  both sets were on wood panel, a distinctive support—especially since Watteau’s originals were painted on copper. Moreover, at least one other painting from the Baudoin sale reappeared in the Gévigney sale: a Pater scene of military encampment with tents (Ingersoll-Smouse cat. 402) figured first in the Baudoin sale, lot. 90, and then in the Gévigney sale, lot 542.
 
When the paintings first came up at auction the phrase “dans le goût de Watteau” implied that they were not by the master himself but, instead, were copies. Yet when they came up the second time, they were attributed to the master. Such changes were not uncommon in the marketplace.

A tradition extending back to the late nineteenth century has attached Fragonard’s name to the pair of copies in the Baudoin collection. Goncourt initiated the idea that Fragonard made copies of these two military compositions, but he did not specify they were the ones in the Baudoin or Gévigney sales. This tradition was carried forth by LeBlanc and Portalis. Adhémar linked Fragonard’s name to the Baudoin pictures, and as always Macchia and Montagni followed. However, as Sterling pointed out, Fragonard’s name was intoned not apropos of the Watteau military scenes, but, rather for paintings that appeared several lots earlier in the Baudoin sale. No trace of the original Watteau paintings has been found in subsequent sales.

 

 

 

Les Fatigues de la guerre (copy 2)
Entered May 2022; revised June 2022

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on panel

22.9 x 33 cm    

 

ALTERNATIVE TITLES

The Fatigues of War

 

PROVENANCE

New York, collection of Thomas Jefferson Bryan (1800-1870). He donated this painting and its pendant, The Relaxations of War, together with much of his collection, to the New-York Historical Society in 1867.

New York, New-York Historical Society, inv. 1867.B.380. Sold New York, Sotheby Parke Bernet, October 9, 1980, lot 90: "SCHOOL OF ANTOINE WATTEAU THE FATIGUES OF WAR / On panel / 9 x 13 inches / 23 x 33 cm / Note: The composition is based on a painting by Watteau in the Hermitage.” Sold for $1,100.

 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Walton, Catalogue of the New-York Historical Society (1906).

Monod and Einstein, “Le Musée” (1906), 250.

New York, New-York Historical Society, Catalogue (1915), 19.

Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 42.

Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 96.

Catalogue of New-York Historical Society (1956).

Macchia and Montagni, Tutti l’opera di Watteau (1968), under cat. 96.

Washington, Paris, and Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. 15. 

 

REMARKS

This copy and its pendant, a copy of Les Délassements de la guerre, are rendered in the same direction as Watteau’s painting, suggesting that they might have been executed from the original work.

 

 

 

 

Les Fatigues de la guerre (copy 3)
Entered May 2022; revised June 2022

 

Whereabouts unknown

Medium unknown

22 x 34 cm.

 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Washington, Paris, and Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. 15. 

 

REMARKS

When Pierre Rosenberg published this painting in 1984, he described it as a copy by Pater but that would seem to be just the flag of convenience under which the picture traveled. The work seems to lack any specific traits of that Watteau satellite, but it does appear to be a faithful and high quality rendering of Watteau’s composition.

 

 

 

 

Les Fatigues de la guerre (copy 4)
Entered May 2022;revised June 2022

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on panel

26 x 31 cm

 

PROVENANCE

Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot, March 1, 1906, lot 68: “WATTEAU (?) / (ANT.) . . . ‘Les Fatigues de la guerre.’ Composition à sujet militaire, connue par la gravure de SCOTIN, jointe au tableau. Fine petite peinture, d’une chaude tonalité. Beau cadre Louis XVI en bois sculpté et doré. Bois. Haut., 26 cent.; large., 31 cent.” Sold for 580 francs according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library, New York.  

 

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs de Watteau (1921-29), 3: under cat. 138.

 

REMARKS

No image of the 1906 picture is known. It might be our copy 3, but without knowing the measurements of that painting it is impossible to reach a conclusion.

 

 

 

Les Fatigues de la guerre (copy 5)
Entered May 2022; revised June 2022

 

Riom, Musée Francisque Mandet

Oil on canvas

65 x 81 cm

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Riom, Musée, Musée de Riom (Riom: 1919), cat. 187.

Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 95 and 96.

Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 96.

 

REMARKS

In an article in the January 3, 1912 issue of the Antiquitäten Zeitung, Mabille de Oncheville was said to have discovered in the Riom museum a painting of the same type as Les Fatigues de la guerre. This was repeated by Adhémar and Macchia and Montagni, although these scholars apparently did see the painting. In fact, the picture is still in the museum but it has nothing to do with Watteau or Les Fatigues de la guerre.

 

When the picture entered the museum’s collection in 1883 it was attributed to Pater, and that was the way it was classified in the Museum’s 1919 catalogue. Indeed, the complex composition and the individual figures establish that Pater was responsible for this work. In fact, the Riom painting is a duplicate of a well-established Pater painting that a century ago was in the collection of Baron Léonino.

 

 

 

Les Fatigues de la guerre (copy 6)
Entered May 2022; revised June 2022

 

Whereabouts unknown

Oil on canvas

22 x 34 cm

 

PROVENANCE

Paris, sale, Tour Maubourg (Audap), June 25, 2020, lot 278: “Ecole Française vers 1720, entourage d’Antoine WATTEAU / Les fatigues de la guerre / Les délassements de la guerre / Paire des toiles / (Restaurations anciennes) / Haut. 22 cm; Larg. 34 cm / Reprises des tableaux conserves à l’Ermitage de Saint Petersbourg / 2 000/3 000 €”

 

REMARKS

Both this picture and its pendant, a copy after Les Délassements de la guerre, are painted in the same direction as Watteau’s original canvases. The photographs are too indistinct to determine whether these are the copies sold from the New-York Historical Society in 1980 (our copy 2).