La Finette (copy 1)
Entered October 2022
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel des ventes mobilières, March 4, 1852, lot 99: “WATTEAU. Portrait de Finette, elle tient une mandoline à la main.”
REMARKS
This picture, barely described and left unmeasured, cannot be the original Watteau painting because that picture, now in the Louvre, was already in La Caze’s collection by 1848. This copy, without its pendant, must be a separate version, perhaps even our copy 2.
La Finette (copy 2)
Entered October 2022
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
64 x 53 cm
PROVENANCE
Lyon, collection of Charles Mera collection. His sale, Lyons, February 8-13, 1886, lot 247: “WATTEAU. . . La Joueuse de Mandoline. Une jeune femme en élégant costume rayé bleu et blanc, vue presque de dos, pince de la mandoline et tourne gracieusement la tete, se laissant voir de trois-quarts. Tache lègere et vaporeuse. Sur bois. Cadre sculpté. Haut, 64 cent; Larg, 53 cent.“
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs, 3: under cat. 128.
Washington, Paris, Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. 58.
REMARKS
This copy after Watteau’s La Finette is much larger than Watteau’s original painting or our copy 3.
La Finette (copy 3)
Entered October 2022
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
27.3 x 19.7 cm
PROVENANCE
Hialeah, Florida, Omega Auction, October 1, 2014, lot 310: “Antoine Watteau . . . set of two oil on panel framed and signed paintings, signed lower left, 7.75” x 10.75” & with frame 15” x 12”. Est. $15,000-20,000 the pair.
REMARKS
This picture is paired with a copy after L’Indifférent. Despite the attribution of the two pendants to Watteau himself, the so-called signature on one of them clearly states “d’apres Watteau.” That says it all.
La Finette (copy 4)
Entered October 2022
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
26 x 21 cm
PROVENANCE
An old paper label on the reverse of the painting states that it belonged to a Mme Lavocé of Niort in March 1882. That name is in a cartel fixed to the frame, almost as though it were the name of the artist or the sitter.
Paris, sale, Kahn & Associés, November 21, 2021, lot 164: “Ecole Française du XIXe siècle d’après Watteau. La Finette. Huile sur panneau. 26 x 21 cm.” Sold for €120.
REMARKS
This copy may have been painted directly from the painting in the Louvre. It corresponds in color and size.
La Finette (copy 5)
Entered October 2022
Whereabouts unknown
Material unknown
Measurments unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of vicomte E. de Plinval. His sale, Paris, April 14-15, 1846, lot. 42: “WATTEAU (Antoine) . . . . Petit portrait d’une dame habillée en robe de soie couleur de rose, elle est assise sur un banc et tient dans sa main un luth suspendu par un cordon bleu.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ferré, Watteau (1972), under cat. A17.
Washington, Paris, Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. 58.
REMARKS
Ferré linked this picture with La Finette, which is quite plausible since both feature a seated woman with a lute (which was the traditional description of her instrument until recently). The Plinval catalogue describes la Finette’s gown as pink but the gown in the Louvre painting is more white or gray; did the copyist misunderstand Watteau’s intent or did he take this liberty on his own?
La Finette (copy 6)
Entered September 2024; revised December 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
28.5 x 21 cm
PROVENANCE
Munich, Hampel Fine Arts, September 26, 2024, lot 814: "JEAN_ANTOINE WATTEAU . . . NACHFOLGE . . . MUSIZIERENDE DAME IN LANDSCHAFT / Öl auf Holz. / 28,5 x 21 cm. / In dekorativem Rahmen / In bewaldeter Landschaft auf einem Steinbrocken rechts sitzend eine junge Dame in elegantem langen Kleid mit rötlichem Umhang. Sie hält in ihrer rechten Hand eine lange Mandoline, auf der sie zu spielen scheint, hat dabei ihren Kopf mit dem Haar, in dem sie zwei Schleifen trägt, gewendet und blickt aufmerksam aus dem Bild heraus." Est. €5,000 EUR - €7,000 EUR.
Munich, Hampel, December 5, 2024, lot 950: “Jean-Antoine Watteau / Nachfolger des . . . MUZIERENDE DAME IN LANDSCHAFT / Öl auf Holz. 28.5 x 21 cm. In dekorativem Rahmen. In bewaldteter Landschaft auf einem Steinbrocken rechts sitzend eine junge Dame in elegantem langen Kleid mit rötlichem Umhang. Sie hält in inrer rechten Hand eine lange Mandoline, auf der sie zu spielen scheint, hat dabei ihren Kopf mit dem Haar, in dem sie zwei Schleifen trägt, gewendet und blickt aufmerksam aus dem Bild heraus . . .”
REMARKS
As the reversed direction shows, this copy was based not on the original painting but, rather, on Bernard Audran's engraving.
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