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X. Scène de Genre

Entered June 2018; revised November 2019

Whereabouts unknown 

Oil on canvas

42 x 53 cm (including frame)

 

PROVENANCE

Laval, sale, Hiret & Nugues, June 16, 2018, lot 71: "D'après WATTEAU, dans un bel encadrenement en bois et plâtre doré, ‘Scène de genre’. Huile sur toile. Epoque XIXème Dimenisons : 42 x 53 cm (cadre inclus). ESTIMATION / 1 200 - 1 500 €."

Laval, sale, Hiret & Nugues, November 28, 2019, lot 24: D’après WATTEAU, dans un bel encadrement en bois et plâtre doré. “Scène du genre”. Huile sur toile. Epoque XIXème / Dimensions: 42 x 53 cm (cadre inclus). Estimation 1 000 -1 200 €.

 

REMARKS

Although not identified as such, this painting is essentially a copy after Watteau’s Récréation galante in Berlin. Seven of the figures at the right, the fountain, and the arrangement of the trees correspond to the Berlin painting. So too, the colors of the costumes and the slightly unfinished inlaying of color respond to the Berlin picture.

 

  

However, the leftmost figure, a woman sitting with her back to us, and, as well, the sculpture of a reclining nude at the far left are taken from a different source in Watteau’s oeuvre, namely his Réunion en plein air in Dresden.  

The somewhat skillful combination of these two different sources into a meaningful whole is superior to the pasticheur’s rendering of Watteau’s faces and costumes.

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