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La Villageoise (copy 1)
Entered September 2026
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
33 x 21 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Femme passant un gué
Girl Crossing a Ford
Jeune femme passant un gué
PROVENANCE
Fonthill Abbey. A sale on this site was conducted by Phillips, October 10-15, 1823, lot 157: “Watteau . . . Girl Crossing a Ford (engraved) one of the richest productions of this Master’s pencil—In No. 39.” According to an annotated sale catalogue, the painting sold for £16.16 to Boss.
Paris, sale, Hôtel des Commissaires-Priseurs, February 6, 1862, lot 101: “WATTEAU. . . Jeune fille passant un gué. Gravé.” According to an annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library, New York, the painting sold for 62 livres.
Paris, sale, Hôtel Drouot, May 6, 1862, lot 25: “LA MÊME [WATTEAU (d’après)]. Jeune Femme traversant un gué.”
Paris, collection of Henri Michel-Levy (1844-1914; artist). His sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, May 12-13, 1919, lot 35: “WATTEAU (Ecole de JEAN-ANTOINE.) . . . Femme passant un gué. Un fichu blanc sur la tête, le jupe rouge relevé et tenant de ses deux mains sa chemise serrée autour de ses jambes, elle traverse une rivière à gué. Toile. Haut., 33 cent.; larg., 21 cent.” Bought in at 1,20 livres.
Paris, Hôtel Drouot, December 19, 1919, lot 71: “WATTEAU (Ecole de JEAN-ANTOINE.) . . . Femme passant un gué. Un fichu blanc sur la tête, le jupe rouge relevé et tenant de ses deux mains sa chemise serrée autour de ses jambes, elle traverse une rivière à gué. Toile. Haut., 33 cent.; larg., 21 cent.“
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné (1875), under cat. 90.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), under cat. 157.
Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 167.
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 15.
REMARKS
Although critics have occasionally thought that some of these references pertained to Watteau’s autograph version of La Villageoise, they all appear to refer to a copy. This version was smaller: whereas Watteau’s painting is 38 x 29.5 cm, this example is just 33 x 21 cm. Additionally, it was not painted on a wood panel but on canvas. There is an interesting consistency in nomenclature: it has not appeared under La Villageoise, the title assigned in the Jullienne Oeuvre gravé, but under Jeune fille passant un gué or some close variant.
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