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L'Ile enchantée (copy 1)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
23 x 33 cm
PROVENANCE
Petworth, UK, with Millhouse Fine Arts (by 1975)
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Connoisseur, 188 (March 1975), 8.
Whittingham, "Watteau's 'L'Ile Enchantée" (1984), 339-40.
REMARKS
Although touted as a "contemporary copy possibly painted in the master's studio and partly by his own hand," there is a little reason to believe that Watteau ran his atelier in that fashion. While this picture is a good copy, it is just that and nothing more.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 2)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
61 x 83 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
An Enchanted Island
PROVENANCE
London, sale, Prestage's, April 3-4, 1764, lot 31: "WATTEAU . . . An enchanted Island, after . . . [height feet] 2 [width feet] 2.9."
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Connoisseur, 188 (March 1975), 8.
REMARKS
It is intriguing to know that copies after Watteau's composition, such as this one, were in circulation just a few decades after the artist's death. It is unclear whether this copy was based on Watteau's canvas or the Le Bas engraving.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 3)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Insula Pirjereumciada
PROVENANCE
London, sale, John A. Hermon [auctioneer], April 20-21, 1807, lot 248: "Watteau . . . L'Ile Enchantée Insula Pirjereumciada, engraved by J. P. Le Bas." Sold for £29.18 according to Burton Fredericksen, the Getty Provenance Index Databases.
REMARKS
Burton Fredericksen noted that this and another painting in the sale brought exceptionally high prices, suggesting that they were of high quality. Yet the references to the Le Bas engraving suggest that the painting may have been only a copy after the engraving in the Oeuvre gravé.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 4)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel des Commisseurs-Priseurs, October 30-31, 1856, lot 9: "WATTEAU (D'après). L'Ile enchantée; très belle imitation du maître."
REMARKS
It is possible that this picture should be identified with the painting listed here as copy 5, which was sold in Paris some thirty years later and was also lavishly praised.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 5)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot, collections MM. X and L, April 16, 1884, lot 147: "WATTEAU (d'après ANT.) . . . L'Ile enchantée. Bonne copie, spirituelement touché." The picture sold for 125 francs according to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library.
REMARKS
It is possible that this picture should be identified with the painting listed here as copy 4, which was sold in Paris about thirty years earlier and was especially praised.
L'Ile enchantée (copy 6)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
31.5 x 25 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot, March 22, 1926, lot 41: "WATTEAU (A.) / (Ecole de) / Étude pour l'Ile enchantée / Toile, Cadre en bois sculpté. Haut., 0m31 ½; larg. 0m25." Sold for 300 francs to Alvin-Beaumont.
Paris, with Victor Alvin-Beaumont (b. 1862; artist, dealer, critic)).
REMARKS
One wonders what was implied when this picture was described as a "study" for L'Ile enchantée. Was it truly a rapid sketch? How could a Watteau follower have made a preparatory study for a Watteau painting? At best, this must be a sketchily rendered copy after Watteau's composition. The dimensions of the painting raise another cautionary flag. Like the original rendering of L'Ile enchantée, all its copies are horizontal compositions. Yet the picture sold in 1926 was higher than wide. In fact, it was almost square. Was it a fragmentary excerpt of some of the figures from Watteau's composition?
The dealer Alvin-Beaumont seems to have had a propensity for such dubious works, often assigning them to the supposed master.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 7)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
53 x 63.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
A Fête Champêtre by a Lake
PROVENANCE
New York, sale, Christie's East, June 3, 1998, lot 138: "SCHOOL OF JEAN-ANTOINE WATTEAU . . . A Fête Champêtre by a Lake / oil on canvas / 21 x 25 in. (53.3 x 63.5 cm) / Estimate: $2,500-3,500."
Zurich, sale, Koller, March 22, 2002, lot 3089.
REMARKS
Although well painted, the reverse direction of this picture indicates that it was based on the Le Bas engraving.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 8)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
37 x 45 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Scène galante
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Kohn, May 25, 2009, lot 6: "WATTEAU / ANTOINE entourage de – ECOLE FRANCAISE DU XVIIIe SIECLE / SCENE GALANTE / Huile sur toile / 37 x 45 cm / Estimation: 4 000 € / 6 000 €."
REMARKS
This picture is merely another copy after the Le Bas engraving.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 9)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
57.5 x 67.7 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
The Enchanted Isle
PROVENANCE
London, sale, Bonhams, July 8, 2009, lot 38: "Circle of Jean Antoine Watteau . . . The Enchanted Isle/ oil on canvas / 57.5 x 67.7 cm (22 5/8 x 26 5/8in) . . . The present composition, in reverse, is known from an engraving by Le Bas, published in 1734 when the original belonged to Jean-Sylvain Cartaud. Interestingly the present composition also differs from any other known version in its inclusion of a dog beside the couple on the left hand side. The caption on the print states that 'the original . . . [is] of the same dimensions as the print'. In their catalogue raisonné on the artist, Grasselli and Rosenberg give a painting in a Swiss private collection as the original, albeit that it is of larger dimensions to the print (46 x 56.3 cm), explaining this discrepancy by the fact the print depicts only the central part of the composition, the dimensions of that section being similar to the print's (Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Pierre Rosenberg, Watteau 1684-1721, Washington, 1984, no. 60, pp. 393-4). Other art historians have questioned the Swiss picture, including Ferré in 1972, who listed the original as lost (J. Ferré, Watteau, Madrid, 1972). The existence of the present work and the copy described as by a follower of Watteau (Sale, Koller, Lucerne, 22 March 2002, lot 3089) both of which are in reverse to the to the other known versions, would suggest the existence of a lost original in this direction."Sold for £26,400 (US $32,298) including premium.
REMARKS
Despite the elaborate hypothesis set forth in the Bonhams cataloguer, the Bonhams picture is simply a copy after the Le Bas engraving. Dacier and Vuaflart have explained the discrepancies in measurements between Watteau's canvas and the Le Bas engraving. If there is a dog (it is not readily visible in the Bonhams photo), it is a minor change introduced by the copyist. In short, there is no reason to believe that Watteau executed two different versions of L'Ile enchantée, one in the reverse direction of the other.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 10)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
38.4 x 50.8 cm
PROVENANCE
Boston, collection of Mrs. J. H. Child
Marlborough, Massachusetts, sale, Skinners, July 14, 2016, lot 1095: "After Jean-Antoine Watteau . . . L'Ile Enchantée. Unsigned, with labels from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Doll & Richards, Boston, affixed to the reverse. Oil on cradled panel, 15 1/8 x 20 in., framed. Condition: Retouch, restored split to panel. Provenance: Through the collection of Mrs. J.H. Child, Boston. Estimate $400-600. The painting at hand is a copy after an engraving made of "L'Ile Enchanté," an original oil by Watteau, now in a private collection. This copy probably dates from the early 19th century and is likely based upon the reverse-image engraving by Jacques-Philippe Le Bas (French, 1707-1783)." Sold for $677.
REMARKS
This picture is merely a copy after the Le Bas engraving.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 11)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
18 x 30 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Scène champêtre
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot (De Baecque), October 8, 2020, lot 334, "Ecole FRANCAISE du XVIIIe, dans le goût de Watteau. Scène champêtre / Huile sur panneau / H. 18 cm – L. 30 cm à vue / Fentes."
REMARKS
The 2020 sale catalogue seems to be unaware that the picture is a copy after Le Bas' engraving after Watteau's Ile enchantée.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 12)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
38 x 54 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Scène galante
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot (De Baecque), June 7, 2023, lot 255: "Ecole FRANCAISE du XXe siècle d'après Jean Antoine WATTEAU / . . . Scène galante / Huile sur toile / H. 38 cm L. 54 cm HVS 300/500 €."
REMARKS
This copy follows the Le Bas engraving and not the original Watteau composition. It is a crude, insensitive copy. For example, the prominent bank of clouds across the background is a misunderstanding of the range of mountains that Watteau intended.
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L'Ile enchantée (copy 13)
Entered July 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
92 x 73 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Hofgesellschaft in gebirger Landschaft
PROVENANCE
Geneva, sale, October 15, 1964.
Geneva, sale, Hôtel des ventes de Genèves, lot 1165: "Nicolas Lancret . . . dans le goût de. Compagnie galante dans un parc, paire d'huiles sur toile, XIXe s., format ovale, 92x73 cm."
REMARKS
The pendant painting is also a copy after Watteau, and is based on the artist's Bosquet de Bacchus
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