Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 1)
Entered May 2021; September 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Les Pélerins de Cithère
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Joseph Gabriel Agard (1696-1750; art dealer), 1750 inventory of his collection: “Item un grand Vateau representant les pélerins de Cithère dans sa bordure de bois sculpté dont prisé trente-six livres, cy . . . XXXVI it.”
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gady and Glorieux, “Agard” (2000), 85, 104.
REMARKS
Agard’s ownership of a copy of Watteau’s reception piece is fascinating because it shows that such copies were already in circulation in the first half of the eighteenth century. Agard was a friend of Edme Gersaint, which makes his picture all the more interesting. However, without any indication of size and without a description, it is impossible to decide anything about the picture. There currently (2020) is a hypothesis that Agard's painting is the pastiche now on the art market (see Le Départ des pèlerins pour l'isle de Cythère), but there is no proof to confirm it.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 2)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
medium
43.2 x 45.7 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement de Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, May 22ff, 1793, collection of Jean Fréderic Guillaume Espagnac, comte d’Amarzit de Sahuquet (or others), lot 100 bis: “Par le même [Ant. Watteau.] Un tableau de Watteau, composition de plusieurs figures et paysage, représentant l’embarquement de Cythère. Haut. 17 pouces; larg. 18 pouc.” Sold for 50 livres.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
The almost square format of this painting suggests that it was not a literal transcription of Watteau’s horizontal composition.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 3)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Le Départ pour l’ile de Cythère
PROVENANCE
Sale, Paris, Hôtel des ventes, December 22, 1842, lot 38: “MÊME GENRE [Genre de WATTEAU] . . . Le depart pour l’ile de Cythère.”
REMARKS
The information is too sparse to draw any conclusions about the painting.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 4)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Roubaix, collection of Alphonse Wattel-Bayard (d. 1906; vice-président de la Société Artistique de Roubaix); sold Roubaix, December 17-18ff, 1906.
EXHIBITIONS
Paris, sale, February 26-28, 1849, lot 42: “WATTEAU (ANTOINE) . . . L’Embarquement pour Cythère."
REMARKS
The information is too meager to allow any conclusions about the painting.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 5)
Entered May 2021; September 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
98 x 83 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of M. Bagu. His sale, Paris, November 23-24, 1849, lot 16: “WATTEAU (D’APRÈS) . . . L’Embarquement pour Cythère; copie que nous croyons de Lancret. Le tableau original fut détruit de l‘ermitage à Saint-Pétersbourg. (Toile. H. 98 c., L.83).”
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Washington, Paris, Berlin, Watteau 1684-1721 (1984), under cat. P71.
REMARKS
Most unusual, the painting was recorded as being slightly taller than wide. The tentative attribution to Lancret was probably only an attempt to employ the name of one of Watteau’s satellites rather than admit the work was by an anonymous copyist. The notion that there had been a version of an Embarkation by Watteau in the Hermitage is misinformation or another of the auctioneer’s fictions.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 6)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement à Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel de ventes mobilières, March 1-2, 1844, lot 55: “WATTEAU (D’après). L’embarquement à Cythère.”
REMARKS
The information is too limited to permit any conclusions about the painting.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 7)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Le Départ pour Cythère
SELECT BIBLIOGRAHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat 110.
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of M. Poulain. (A collection of drawings, engravings, and books, but not paintings, from a deceased monsieur Poulain was auctioned December 19, 1803.)
Brussels, collection of the chevalier François-Xavier de Burtin (1743-1818).
Paris, collection of baron Massias.
Paris, collection M. le prince de ***. His sale, Paris, Hôtel des ventes, March 19-20, 1851, lot 87: “WATTEAU (ANTOINE) . . . Le Départ pour Cythère. Ce charmant tableau, réduction de celui du Musée, a déjà fait partie des belles galleries de MM. Poulain, du chevalier Burtin et du baron Massias.”
REMARKS
The meaning of the term “réduction” is unclear. Does it signify a diminution in size relative to the Louvre painting or does it signify a change in Watteau’s composition, with fewer figures than in the original? Could it have been a painting like Le Départ des pèlerins pour l'isle de Cythère?
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 8)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Le Départ pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, Leullier collection. His sale, January 20, 1834, lot 111: “WATTEAU (Antoine). Le depart pour Cythère; esquisse.”
REMARKS
The information is too limited to permit conclusions about the painting. Like a number of other copies of the Pèlerinage, this work is called an “esquisse,” but is this meant to suggest that the painting was not as highly finished or that it was smaller than the Louvre picture?
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 9)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
89 x 118 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Le Voyage à Cythère
PROVENANCE
Cans-près-Celigny, Switzerland, sale, Dogny Auction, June 23, 2015, lot 16: “Louise Leleux-Giraud (1824-1885), Le Voyage à Cythère, signé et daté au dos ‘avril 1872,’ d’après Watteau.” Sold for 1,500 Swiss francs.
REMARKS
The Swiss-born painter Louise Leleux-Giraud was active in France and probably executed her copy of Watteau’s painting in the Louvre.
Le Pèlerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 10)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
66 x 42 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement de Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Charles Nicolas Duclos-Dufresnoy (1733-1794; conseiller du roi, notaire royal). His sale, Paris, August 18-21, 1795, lot 24: “Watteau. Une composition agréable representant l’Embarquement de Cythère. Morceau esquisse d’une touche très -sprituelle.” 66 x 42 cm.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné (1875), 121.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
Our source of information about the 1795 sale is de Goncourt, who quotes the catalogue entry. However, the catalogue does not contain any reference to Watteau; lot 24 is a painting by Greuze. Duclos-Dufresnoy was an important champion of the French school of painting.
Like a number of other copies of the Pèlerinage, this work is called an “esquisse,” but is this meant to suggest that the painting was not as highly finished or had a less resolved composition? It was smaller than the Louvre picture, which also might have prompted the term “esquisse.”
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 11)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
75.6 x 126 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Le Départ pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of chevalier de Jogues. His sale, Paris, September 23 ff, 1784, lot 39: "Attribué à Ant Watteau. Départ pour Cythère, esquisse que l’on croit d’Ant. Watteau; elle a été gravé; haut. 2 pieds 4 pouces, largeur 3 pieds 11 pouces: toile." Sold for 35.1 livres to Joullain.
Paris, with François Charles Joullain (c. 1731-1790; art dealer).
REMARKS
Although the engraving that was cited in 1784 is after the Berlin version of Watteau’s composition, in all likelihood the auctioneer did not make that basic distinction.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 12)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
66 x 82 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement de Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, June 24ff, 1799, lot 24: “A. WATEAU. . . Une composition agréable, représentant l’embarquement de Cythère. Morceau esquisse d’une touche très-spirituelle.—Larg.r 82c , haut.r 66. T.”
REMARKS
Although we have the measurements of this copy, the remaining information is too scant to allow our identification of it with other known copies.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 13)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
45 x 55 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, Masson collection. Sale February 1, 1875, lot 73: “WATTEAU (ANTOINE) . . . L’Embarquement pour Cythère. Des jeunes femmes et des jeunes gens se tenant par la main se disposent à monter dans un bateau richement pavoisé; des petits amours tenant les rames les atendent. Ce tableau a été gravé. Toile. Haut., 45 cent.; larg., 55 cent.” An annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library indicates that the picture sold for 6,000 livres.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
Although the 1875 sale catalogue indicates that the composition was engraved, which literally would indicate the Berlin version of the Pèlerinage, undoubtedly the Paris version was intended. This was a common mistake.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 14)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of baron de Biancour (prefect). His sale, Paris, Hôtel des commisseurs-priseurs, March 17-19, 1892, lot 56: “WATTEAU (D’après ANT.) . . . L’embarquement pour Cythère.”
REMARKS
The information is too sparse to draw any conclusions about the painting.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 15)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
122 x 152.4 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
The Embarkation for Cythera
PROVENANCE
London, collection of Wynne Ellis (1790-1875; haberdasher and silk merchant). His sale, London, Christie’s, June 17, 1876, lot 28: "WATTEAU. . . . THE EMBARKATION FOR CYTHERA.” According to Christie’s annotated copy of the sale catalogue, now in the National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, the picture sold for £33.12 to Pender.
London, collection of Sir John Pender (d. c. 1897). His sale, London, May 29, 1897, lot 403: “A. WATTEAU . . . L’EMBARQUEMENT POUR L’ISLE DE CYTHÈRE / 48 in x 60 in.From the Collection of Wynne Ellis Esq. A picture of this subject by Watteau is in the Berlin Gallery; there is also another example, differing slightly, in the Louvre, Paris.”
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
The description in the 1897 sale could be read to mean that the painting in the Pender collection was closer to the Berlin version of Watteau’s composition, but that may not have been intended.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 16)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
40 x 63.5 cm
PROVENANCE
London, Lane collection. His sale, London, December 13, 1913, lot 46: panel, 16 x 25 inches.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
Despite the listing by Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, it has not been possible to locate such a sale in 1913. Was Mr. Lane the well-known dealer and collector Sir Hugh Lane?
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 17)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, Thévenin collection. His sale, Paris, Hotel des ventes mobilières, January 27, 1851. Esquisse
SELECT BIBLIOGRAHY
Gillet, Un Grand maître (1921), 107.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
Gillet praised this copy, terming it a sketch for or after the Louvre Pèlerinage. It has not proved possible to find the painting in the cited 1851 catalogue.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 18)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
81 x 97 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot, March 26, 1923, lot 109: “WATTEAU (Atelier d’ANTOINE) . . . L’Embarquement pour Cythère. Toile. Haut.: 0m 81; Larg. 0 m 97. Cadre en bois sculpté et doré. Composition du tableau de la National Gallery à Londres.”
REMARKS
The 1923 auction catalogue specifically identified the painting as the Embarquement. Although that painting is in the Louvre, the sale catalogue wrongly identified the museum as the National Gallery in London. This copy is approximately the same large size as the Pélerinage, and is larger than the Gamme d’amour, the only Watteau painting in the National Gallery, London.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 19)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
London, collection of Professor Brown (c. 1921).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gillet, Un Grand maître (1921), 107.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat. 110.
REMARKS
Gillet, who evidently saw the painting firsthand, described it as a sketch for the Pélérinage, but that is unlikely. Watteau did not make oil studies for his paintings. Professor Brown’s identity is yet to be established.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 20)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
66 x 96.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
The Departure for the Island of Cythera
PROVENANCE
London, Sotheby’s, November 16, 1966, lot 96: “WATTEAU . . . THE DEPARTURE FOR THE ISLAND OF CYTHERA / Unframed 26 in by 38 in.” Sold for £55 to B. Cohen.
REMARKS
Although we have the measurements of this copy, the remaining information is too scant to allow our identification of it with other known copies.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 21)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
87 x 123 cm
PROVENANCE
Advertised for sale on eBay March 2016.
REMARKS
When advertised, this picture was ascribed to Watteau himself, and was dated to the eighteenth century. However, on the back of the canvas is the Louvre authorization to copy the museum’s painting, dated October 1957. That date indicates when the copy was executed.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 22)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
49 x 62.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Die Einschiffung nach Citere
PROVENANCE
Vienna, sale, Dorotheum, February 16-20, 1981, lot 374: "Kopie nach Antoine Watteau . . . Die Einschiffung nach Citere, Öl auf Leinwand, 49 x 62,5 cm., (siehe Abbildung Tafel 36), (F). 3,500."
REMARKS
This painting is known to me only through a very small, fuzzy image. However, even just that indicates that the picture is not a carefully executed copy.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 23)
Entered May 2021; revised September 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
33.6 x 41.9 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
The Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythère
PROVENANCE
London, sale, Phillips, July 7, 1992, lot 166: “After ANTOINE WATTEAU / THE PILGRIMAGE TO THE ISLAND OF CYTHÈRE / On canvas / 13¼ in. x 16½ in. (33.6 x 41.9 cm.) £800-1200 Based on the original composition which is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris.” Sold for £720.
REMARKS
This is but a small replica of the Louvre picture.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 24)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
130 x 194 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’imbarco per Citera
PROVENANCE
Rome, sale, Finarte, March 7, 1989, lot 37: “Antoine Watteau (scuola) / L’imbarco per Citrera / olio su tela, cm 130x194 / Il dipinto replica L’embarquement pour Cythère presentato da Watteau all’Académie Royale nel 1717 e ora al Louvre. Valutazione L. 12.000/14.000.”
REMARKS
Although we have the measurements of this copy, the remaining information is too limited to allow our identification of it with other known copies.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 25)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
110 x 127 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, Gregh collection (c. 1947). Adhémar lists this copy without a more exact identification of the owner. The person in question may have been the poet and literary critic Fernand Gregh (1873-1960).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adhémar, L’Embarquement (1947), 14.
REMARKS
When Adhémar saw this copy, it was attributed to Jacques Sébastien Leclerc, known as “Leclerc des Gobelins” (c. 1754-1785), an attribution that she seems to have supported. However, many paintings by Watteau’s copyists and followers have routinely been attributed to him, faute de mieux, when an artist’s name was needed.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 26)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
59.7 x 92.7 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Embarking for Cythera
PROVENANCE
Netley, Southampton, collection of Hon. Mrs. Yorke. Her sale and others, London, Christie's, May 6, 1927, lot 14: “WATTEAU. Embarking for Cythera, 23½ in. x 36½ in.” According to Christie’s own annotated copy of the sale catalogue, now in the National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, the picture sold for £33.12 to Mitchell.
REMARKS
According to the Christie’s sale catalogue, most of Mrs. York’s Old Master paintings were inherited from her father, Sir Anthony Rothschild, Bt.
The information is too sparse to draw any conclusion about her Watteau painting.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 27)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
Approximately 120 x 190 cm.
PROVENANCE
Paris, private collection (c. 1947).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAHY
Adhémar, L’Embarquement (1947), 14.
REMARKS
Adhémar evidently knew this copy and thought it dated to the early nineteenth century.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 28)
Entered May 2021; revised July 2021
Washington, D.C., Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, inv. HC.P.1926.22(O).
Oil on canvas
65.4 x 83,2 cm.
PROVENANCE
Helsinki, with Gösta Stenman. Sold to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Bliss on October 27, 1926.
Washington, D.C., collection of Mildred Barnes Bliss (1879-1969) and Robert Woods Bliss (1875-1962; diplomat); donated to the Dumbarton Oaks Research and Library Collection in 1940.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adhémar, L’Embarquement (1947), 14.
REMARKS
This picture copies only the left side of the Louvre painting.
The condition of the Dumbarton Oaks panel while being conserved in 1934.
This panel was stripped and conserved at the Fogg Museum, Cambridge, by Roger Alvah Lyon in 1934. The results showed that even initially this picture was sketchy, a term used for a number of copies of Watteau’s composition. Adhémar described the painting as “très jolie,” but that is hardly the case, given the degree of loss below the surface.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 29)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on paper, mounted on canvas
21.5 x 33.5 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Henri Fantin-Latour (1836-1904; painter)
Paris, collection of Fernand Ochsé (1879-1944; musical composer) and his descendants. His art collection was stolen by the Nazis during World War II and later restituted. In 1947 Adhémar identified the owner vaguely as “Ochsé” without further detail.
Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Pierre Bergé & Associés), November 25, 2015, lot 103: “HENRI-THÉODORE FANTIN-LATOUR . . . L’Embarquement pour Cythère, copie d’après Watteau / Huile sur papier marouflé sur toile, signée en bas à droite. H_21.5 cm L_33.5 cm / 2,000/3,000€. Bibliographie: Catalogue complet de l’oeuvre de Fantin-Latour. Henri Floury, éditeur, Paris. Probablement décrit sous le no 485, p. 54.” Sold for €4,122.
Sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot (Art Curial), October 18, 2016, lot 1: “Henri FANTIN-LATOUR . . . Embarquement pour Cythère d’après Watteau / Huile sur papier marouflé sur toile / Signé en bas à droite “Fantin” / 21,50 x 33,50 cm . . . 4 000- 4 500€.” Sold for €16,250.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fantin-Latour, Catalogue de l’oeuvre complet (1911), cat. 485.
Adhémar, L’Embarquement (1947), 14.
REMARKS
This very small copy was reportedly executed in the Louvre c. 1869 by Fantin-Latour, but was painted at a distance from Watteau’s original. The result is an abstract study of colors.
Fantin-Latour’s wife-to-be supposedly copied the left-hand side of Watteau’s composition (our copy 31).
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 30)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Victoria Dubourg, later Madame Henri Fantin-Latour (1840-1928; painter).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adhémar, L’Embarquement (1947), 14.
REMARKS
This copy, supposedly of the figures at the right side of Watteau’s painting, was reportedly executed about 1872 by Victoria Dubourg. She was the wife-to-be of the painter Henri Fantin-Latour. Her partial copy and her husband’s whole version of the composition (copy 29) were executed within a few years of each other. The information about Dubourg’s copy comes only from Adhémar.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 31)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
87 x 120 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, Rochard collection. His sale, Paris, December 13-14, 1866, lot 154: “WATTEAU (ANTOINE) . . . Répetition du tableau du Louvre représentant l’Embarquement pour Cythère. Toile. Haut. 87 cent.; larg. 120 cent.”
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), 3: under cat 110.
REMARKS
Rochard’s identity is uncertain. Several painters with this family name were active in the nineteenth century. His collection also contained a copy of Watteau’s L’Ile de Cythère, then attributed to Watteau himself.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 32)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
30.5 x 40.6 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
l’Ile de Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, Hôtel des ventes mobilières, April 25, 1854, lot 35: “WATTEAU (D”après) . . . Deux groupes d’après l’Ile de Cythère.”
REMARKS
The image of this painting is known to me from a photograph in the archives of the Getty Research Institute. It is marked on the reverse side with the notation ”Watteau, Jean Antoine (follower).” The photo had been in the possession of the New York- and London-based dealer Julius Weitzner (1896-1984).
It is tempting to associate this photograph with the picture sold in 1854 because that painting has the distinction of being described as showing “deux groupes.” That unique description corresponds to the photographed painting—one couple in the foreground and a group of four in the middle ground—all derived from Watteau’s painting in the Louvre.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 33)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection Moussali (Ulysses Moussali?)
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ferré, Watteau (1972), cat. P 20.
REMARKS
This picture copies the leftmost couple in Watteau’s composition, but in a sketchy manner.
An old photograph is marked “Moussali” on the reverse side. Ferré lists the work as in a private Parisian collection.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 34)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Charles Lenox Rémond (1810-1873; artist). His sale, Paris, February 10, 1872, Études d’après les maîtres, lot 29: “Watteau . . . L’Embarquement pour l’ile de Cythère; fragment.”
REMARKS
The painting sold in 1872 was a copy by Rémond after Watteau’s picture in the Louvre.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 35)
Entered May 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Voyage à Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Bullion, March 28-29, 1831, lot 94: “WATEAU. Esquisse du tableau connu sous le titre du Voyage à Cythère. Cette production est considerée comme la première pensée de ce maître.”
REMARKS
Several sketchy renderings of Watteau’s painting are extant, but none of them are premières pensées for the painting; Watteau did not paint preliminary studies. One can only wonder if any of the extant sketchy renderings of the Pélerinage correspond to the painting sold in 1831.
Le Pélerinage à l’isle de Cythère (copy 36)
Entered May 2021
Dallas, Texas, collection of Ray Henry
Oil(?) on canvas
213.4 x 121.9 cm
PROVENANCE
Dallas, collection of Diane Lukken (d. 2020; antiques dealer).
Dallas, collection of Ray Henry (acquired from the Lukken estate).
REMARKS
This picture copies the pilgrims at the left side of Watteau’s Pèlerinage, and has embellished this area with the playful putti that appear around Watteau’s boat. The copyist has added a dolphin fountain of a type that appears in other Watteau compositions. Although claimed to be a pastel, the large scale and the canvas support indicate that the picture was more likely executed with oil paint. Its size and decorative spirit suggest that it was intended as interior decoration.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 37)
Entered June 2021
Compiègne, Musée Antoine Vivenel, inv. S.208
Oil on canvas
46.6 x 61.2 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Compiègne, collection of Julia Angéle Surmay (Mme. Hocquet); donated to the museum in 1943.
REMARKS
The museum classifies this picture as a nineteenth-century copy.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 38)
Entered June 2021
Bordeaux, Musée des beaux-arts, inv. Bx E 1069; Bx M 6811
Oil on panel
25 x 22 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Scène galante
PROVENANCE
Collection of Auguste Poirson (1795-1871; historian).
REMARKS
The museum dates this copy to the nineteenth century, but is uncertain whether it copies the couple in Watteau’s Pèlerinage à Cythère or Bon voyage. However, the inclusion of the young boy, the herm of Venus, and the barking dog indicate that it is a copy after the Louvre painting. These elements do not appear in Bon voyage.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 39)
Entered June 2021
Honfleur, Musée Eugène Boudin, inv. 899-1-26
Oil on canvas
48 x 64.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Le Voyage à Cythère
EXHIBITIONS
Paris, Galerie Granoff, Les Boudins (1956), cat. 30.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Leclerc, Catalogue des peintures (1912), cat. 35.
Dries, Guide du Musée (1959), cat. 35.
Schmit, Boudin (1973), 1: cat. 22
Bergeret-Gourbin, Boudin (1996), cat. 1.
REMARKS
Like many of his fellow painters, Eugène Boudin was drawn to Watteau’s sense of light and freedom of brushwork. Painted in 1849, it reveals a serious interest in Watteau’s art well before the official start of the Rococo Revival under the de Goncourts.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 40)
Entered June 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
71.5 x 63.3 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
L’Embarquement pour Cythère
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot (Art Richelieu-Castor), July 7, 2021, lot 112: “D'APRÈS ANTOINE WATTEAU . . . XIXe siècle / ‘Embarquement pour Cythère (détail)’ /Huile sur panneau (accidents) / 71,5 x 63,3 cm.”
REMARKS
This painting copies a few of the figures at the right side of Watteau’s painting, as well as the couple boarding the boat at the center of the composition. Also the color scheme follows Watteau’s, suggesting that the copy might have been executed in the Louvre, in front of Watteau’s picture.
Le Pèlerinage à l’île de Cythère (copy 41)
Entered July 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
45.5 x 64 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Personnages dans un paysage
PROVENANCE
Marseilles, sale, Hôtel des ventes Mediterranée (Renaud Mazzella), July 31, 2021, lot 433: Ecole française de la fin du XVIIIe s. / Personnages dans un paysage / Huile sur toile / 45,5 x 64 cm / Estimation: 200-300 €.
REMARKS
Localizing this copy of the Louvre painting to the late eighteenth century may be too optimistic, especially since Watteau’s art was no longer in style at that moment.
