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La Cascade (copy 1)
Entered April 2017
London, Wallace Collection, inv. P395
Oil on canvas
45 x 35.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
La Fontaine
The FountainA Loving Conversation
Promenade dans le parc
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Lord Henry Seymour (1805-59). His sale, Paris, February 13ff, 1860, lot 113: “PATER . . . . Promenade dans le parc, H., 0,44 c.; l., 0,34 c.” Bought for 9,000 francs by Laboureau for the lord’s brother, Richard Seymour-Conway.
London, collection of Richard Seymour-Conway, 4th Marquess of Hertford. Listed in the 1879 inventory of his apartment, cat. 455: “Pater, le rendez-vous.”
EXHIBITIONS
London, South Kensington Museum, Collection of Paintings . . . Richard Wallace (1872), cat. 434 (Watteau, A Loving Conversation, lent by Sir Richard Wallace).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
P. D., “Ventes des tableaux” (1860), 309.
Staley, Watteau (1901), 64.
London, Wallace Collection, Abridged Catalogue (1901), cat. 395.
Josz, Watteau (1904), 178, 222.London, Wallace Collection, Illustrated Catalogue (1911), 157.
Pilon, Watteau et son école (1912), 60, 80, 85, 115, 150.
Zimmerman, Watteau (1912), no. 130.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), under cat. 28.
MacColl, “Wallace Collection Notes” (1924), 137-38.
London, Wallace Collection, Pictures and Drawings (1925), 144.
Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 81.
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 116.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 133.
Ingamells, Wallace Collection (1984), 3: P395, 377-78.
Duffy and Hedley, The Wallace Collection's Pictures (2004), 473.
Vogtherr, Watteau at the Wallace Collection (2011), 144-46.
REMARKS
Anonymous artist after Watteau, La Cascade, London, Wallace Collection.
John Giles Escardt, Portrait of Henry Seymour Conway, Lady Aylesbury, and Their Daughter Anne, c. 1754, oil on canvas, 66 x 50.9 cm. Private collection.
Christopher Vogtherr has theorized that this copy of Watteau’s La Cascade was already in England in the early eighteenth century, residing in the collection of Henry Seymour Conway (1721-1795). He has proposed that while there it served as a model for John Giles Escard’s portrait of Seymour Conway, with his wife and daughter. The portrait was commissioned in 1754 by Horace Walpole, a friend and cousin of Seymour Conway, as well as an admirer of Watteau’s paintings. According to Vogtherr, the painting then remained hidden away in the Seymour family’s possession until the mid-nineteenth century, when it reappeared at the sale of Richard Seymour-Conway’s collection.
This copy was attributed to Pater in the mid-nineteenth century when it was in the Seymour-Conway collection, and seemingly without reference to Watteau’s La Cascade. When it sold in 1860, it was listed under Pater’s name, and critics viewed it unfavorably. The writer in the Gazette des beaux-arts described it as “Pater, ou quelque autre . . . Peinture fatigué et équivoque.” Yet some thought it was by Watteau, as is registered in the copy of the 1860 sale catalogue in the Frick Art Reference Library; there Watteau’s name is written in the margin adjacent to the lot. Indeed, from 1871 until 1913, it was given to Watteau himself, and this reattribution was seconded by leading critics such as Staley, Josz, and Pilon. However, in 1912 Zimmerman classified the painting as only a copy after Watteau’s original painting and other critics followed. MacColl, who claimed to have been suspicious of the Wallace Collection’s painting as early as 1900, posted his doubt in the museum’s catalogue of 1913. The 1925 edition listed the painting as “after Watteau.”
Old catalogues of the Wallace Collection claimed that their painting had been in the collection of the Chevalier de Gramont in the eighteenth century. That was rightly refuted by Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, but for the wrong reason. The French critics thought that its description when it was sold from the Gramont collection in 1775 was too vague. In fact, the description was quite specific: “Un Mezzetin & une femme se promenent dans un jardin . . . deux enfants près d’une balustrade & d’un pilastre sur lequel est représenté un lion.” The mention of a balustrade, a pilaster, and children confirm that the painting was not La Cascade. More probably, it was a version of La Promenade.
Dacier, Hérold, and Vuaflart also rejected the Wallace Collection’s claim that their painting had figured in the sale of the Samuel Rogers’collection. Yet Macchia and Montagni continued to assert that the Wallace painting had appeared in the Rogers sale.
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La Cascade (copy 2)
Entered April 2017; revised April 2021
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 60.71.21
Oil on panel
21.6 cm diameter
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
A Fete Champêtre
A Masquerade
A Musical Conversation
PROVENANCE
Elton Hall, Peterborough, and London, collection of John Joshua Proby, 1st Earl of Carysfort, (1751-1828). His sale, London, Christie's, London, June 14, 1828, lot 29, "Watteau . . . A pair, small, a Masquerade and Musical conversation." Sold for £63.
London, collection of Samuel Rogers (1763-1855; poet). His sale, London, Christie's, April 28ff, 1856, lot 566: "WATTEAU. . . A Masquerade: a group of five figures, in masquerade dress. From the Earl of Carysfort's collection." Sold for £162.15 to Bentley.
Hampton Lucy, Warwick, collection of Reverend John Lucy (1790-1874). His sale, London, Christie's, May 1, 1875, lot 89: "WATTEAU. . . . A Musical Conversation." According to the annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, it sold with lot 88 (A DANCE CHAMPÊTRE) for £535.10 to Wertheimer.
Westbury Manor, Brackley, and London, collection of Sir Edward Henry Scott, 5th Baronet of Lytchett Minster (1842-1883). Passed by descent to his son, Samuel Edward Scott.
Westbury Manor, Brackley, and London, collection of Sir Samuel Edward Scott, 6th Baronet of Lytchett Minster (1883–1924). His sale, London, Christie's, July 4, 1924, lot 150: “WATTEAU. . . . THE MINUET; and A FÊTE CHAMPÊTRE—a pair / On panel, circular—7½ in. diam.” According to the annotated copy of the sale catalogue in the National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, it sold for £325.5 to Colnaghi.
London, Colnaghi, 1924–26.
New York, collection of William R. Timken (1866-1949; founder of the Timken Roller Bearing Co.) and Lillian S. Timken (1881-1959).
Bequeathed in 1959 to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Additions to the Collections” (1960), 36-37.
Ingamells, Wallace Collection (1984), under cat. P395, 378 n. 2.
Baetjer, European Paintings (1995), 368.
Ferré, Watteau (1972), cat. P70.
REMARKS
This version of La Cascade and its pendantwere copied from Watteau’s original paintings after they were cut down to a circular format—a transformation that occurred before 1789. These copies were presumably painted in Paris, where Watteau’s originals were, but whether they were painted in the late eighteenth or the early nineteenth century cannot be determined. They were first recorded only in 1828.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, these two panels were considered to be by Watteau. The attribution remained firmly in place while they were in the Timken collection, and the Metropolitan Museum retained it for a half century more. In the museum’s 1995 catalogue, however, the attribution was downgraded with the equivocal phrase “attributed to” Watteau.
The remarkable thing is that the two paintings managed to stay together over the course of several centuries. In the 1856 sale of Samuel Roger's collection the two paintings were sold as seperate lots to two different buyers but somehow were rejoined quickly thereafter.
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La Cascade (copy 3)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Washington, D.C., Mary Coggeshall Kuhn. Advertised in Art News, 54 (September 1955), 14.
REMARKS
This copy of La Cascade was announced for sale as part of a selection of “Rare Art Objects from Private European Collections for American Museums and Collectors.” Although this picture was then attributed to Watteau himself, it is apparently a copy but the published image is too unclear to allow further comment.
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La Cascade (copy 4)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Barcelona art trade (G. Layetara?)
REMARKS
This version of La Cascade, not cited in the previous literature, is recorded in a MAS photograph on file at the Service de documentation, Musée du Louvre, Paris. When photographed, it was wrongly ascribed to Pater.
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La Cascade (copy 5)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
47 x 38 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Elegant People Walking in a Forest
PROVENANCE
Beijing, Poly International Auction Co., Ltd., sale, January 20, 2013, lot 2066: “Studio of Nicolas Lancret . . . Elegant People Walking in a Forest / oil on canvas / Height 18.5 in.; Width 15 in. / Height 47 cm.; Width 38 cm. / Estimate 40,000-100,000 Chinese Yuan (6,432-16,081 USD).” Bought in.
REMARKS
Judging from the reproduced image, this copy of La Cascade is of very poor quality.
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La Cascade (copy 6)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on copper
22 x 17 cm
PROVENANCE
Sale, Paris, August 27-28, 1832, cabinet de M.xxxx, lot 99: “WATTEAU . . . Vue d’une partie d’un parc. A droite, une fontaine dont le haut est orné de sculpture; le centre est occupé par deux figures, homme et femme, faisant la conversation; à gauche, trois autres personnes, dont une assise, pinçant de la guitare. Ce tableau est gravé. C. h. 22, l. 17.”
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), under cat. 28.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 133
REMARKS
Although we have no image of the painting, the 1832 description makes it clear that it was in the same direction as Watteau’s painting, and was not copied from the Audran engraving. If this copy of La Cascade was indeed on copper as described in 1832, then it cannot be linked to any of the other copies catalogued here. Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold sought to identify this painting with Watteau’s autograph work. However, the original version is on panel and was still accompanied by its pendant.
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La Cascade (copy 7)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
25 x 33 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
La Fontaine
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, April 24, 1929, lot 85: “WATTEAU (Ecole d’ANTOINE) . . . La fontaine . . . Dans un parc, près d’une fontaine formée d’un groupe de cinq amours et de chèvres, un couple converse; à gauche, trois personnages, l’un d’eux, assis, joue de la guitar . . . Sur toile. Haut. 25 cent. Larg. 33 cent.” Sold for 5000 francs.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1912-28), under cat. 28.
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 116.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa (1968), under cat. 133.
REMARKS
Despite the many variations in format of the copies after La Cascade, this picture is the only one to feature a horizontal format. This was created by cutting off the leafy trees that fill the upper reaches of Watteau’s original composition, rather than by extending the width of the picture.
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La Cascade (copy 8)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
214 x 122 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Scena galante
PROVENANCE
Milan, Sotheby’s, June 8, 1994, lot 15: “Seguace di Nicolas Lancret, SCENA GALANTE, olio su tela, cm. 214x122 / L. 10 – 15,000,000 ($6,188-9,282 USD).” Sold for 7,500 Lire.
REMARKS
The unusually large and vertical format of this painting suggests that it was made as a decorative panel. It does not look like an eighteenth-century work.
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La Cascade (copy 9)
Entered April 2017; revised July 2020
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
70.4 x 60.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
La Fontaine
The Fountain
Réunion joyeuse
PROVENANCE
London, collection of Alfred Charles de Rothschild (1842-1918)
London, collection of Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942)
London, collection of Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009)
The Trustees of Exbury House
Old Sarum, Salisbury, sale, Wooley & Wallis, September 8, 2020.
EXHIBITIONS
London, Royal Academy, Works by the Old Masters (1889), cat. 83 (Watteau, La Cascade, lent by Alfred de Rothschild).
London, Grafton Gallery (1910), cat. 12 (Watteau, La Cascade, lent by Alfred de Rothschild).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Zimmerman, Watteau (1912), no. 131.
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), under cat. 28.
Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 81.
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 116.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 133.
REMARKS
At the beginning of the twentieth century, this copy enjoyed a high standing among Watteau scholars, some of whom thought it was perhaps the original from Watteau’s hand. However, the direction of the composition establishes that this painting was based on Scotin’s engraving. When Zimmerman recognized this, he implied that it was only a copy and not the autograph version—a question that was then moot. Zimmerman posited that the copy might be by an English artist.
Macchia and Montagni suggest the Rothschild painting might be the one previously with Murray Scott (our copy 21). They did not specify why but probably it was because of their shared English provenance.
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La Cascade (copy 10)
Entered April 2017; revised May 2017
Kraków, National Museum of Poland, inv. XII-325.
Oil on panel
39 x 30.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Scene in a Park at a Fountain
PROVENANCE
Kraków, Poland, Czartoryski Museum, Inv. V108; transferred to the National Museum.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mannings, “Gainsborough’s Duke and Duchess of Cumberland” (1973), n. 14.
REMARKS
The direction of the composition establishes that this painting was based on Scotin’s engraving.
Mannings proposed that the Kraków version was Watteau’s autograph work, which clearly is not the case.
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La Cascadet (copy 11)
Entered April 2017; revised May 2017
Tours, Musée des Beaux-Arts, inv. 858-I-42
Oil on canvas
71 x 56 cm
PROVENANCE
Tours, collection of Gaëtan Cathelineau (1787-1859; artist). Donated to the museum in 1858.
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vitry, Musée de Tours (1911), cat. 199.
Lossky, Peintures du XVIIIe siècle (1962), cat. 120.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 133,
REMARKS
The direction of the composition establishes that this painting was based on Scotin’s engraving. In his 1911 catalogue of the Tour museum’s collection, Vitry identified it as being after Watteau, and Lossky’s 1962 catalogue maintained that position. The feather cockade on the woman’s hat suggests that the copy was executed no earlier than the late eighteenth century. Curiously, this work seems not to have been noticed by earlier Watteau scholars and was not cited until Macchia and Montagni’s catalogue in 1968.
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La Cascade (copy 12)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
76.2 x 63.5 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Conversation galante
PROVENANCE
Chevy Chase, MD, sale, Sloans & Kenyon, April 22, 2007, lot 1533. Manner of Nicolas Lancret, Conversation Galante, oil on canvas, Height 30 in.; Width 25 in. / Height 76.2 cm.; Width 63.5 cm. Estimate $3,000-4000.” Sold for $1,500.
REMARKS
The painting, of course, has no relation to Lancret’s work. The direction of the composition establishes that this anonymous copy was based on Scotin’s engraving.
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La Cascade (copy 13)
Entered April 2017; revised September 2024
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
47 x 35 cm
PROVENANCE
London, collection of Lady Greg. Her sale, London, Sotheby’s, May 11, 1960, lot 174: “WATTEAU . . . TWO FETES CHAMPETRES, a pair 17¾ in. by 13¼ in. (2).” Sold to H. Hart for £300 according to the Sotheby’s price list.
Coinsins (Le Vaud), Switzerland, collection of Reginald Riolls (1892-1978; real estate developer), and Mary Toms (d. 1993). Their sale, London, Sotheby’s, June 9, 1995, lot 272: “After Antoine Watteau / LA CASCADE; and LA DANSE PAYSANNE / A pair, both oil on canvas / each 47 by 35 cm; 18½ by 13¾ in (2) / Copies, in reverse after originals in private collections in Paris and Zurich / Provenance: / Lady Grey [sic], sold 11th May 1960, lot 174, £300 to Hart €3,000-4,000.” According to the Sotheby’s price list, the pair sold for £1,955 (including buyer’s premium).
London, sale, Sotheby’s, October 28, 2010, lot 159: “After Jean Antoine Watteau, AN OUTDOOR SCENE WITH AN ELEGANT COUPLE BY A FOUNTAIN / AN OUTDOOR SCENE WITH ELEGANT FIGURES DANCING / a pair, both oil on canvas / each 47 x 35 cm.: 18½ by 13¾ in. Both compositions are based on engravings after the original paintings. Although conceived as a pair, they have since been split and the former was recorded in a private collection in Paris while the latter was in the Fleichmann collection, Zurich (EC Montagni, L’Opera Completa di Watteau, Milan 1968, pp108-9, nos. 133-4). £5,000-7,000 / €6100-8600 US$ 7,800-10,800.” Sold for £5,000.
REMARKS
The direction of the composition establishes that this painting was based on Scotin’s engraving. The pendant was a copy after Watteau’s Danse Paysanne.
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La Cascade (copy 14)
Entered April 2017; revised May 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
40.7 x 32.7 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
La Promenade
PROVENANCE
London, sale, Christie’s South Kensington, October 29, 2010, lot 136: “AFTER JEAN ANTOINE WATTEAU, 18TH CENTURY / La Promenade / oil on panel / 16 x 12 7/8 in. (40.7 x 32.7 cm.) £2,000-4,000 / US $3,100-6,000 /€2,300-4,500 / After the picture, in reverse, in the Wallace Collection, London.” Bought in.
REMARKS
In declaring this copy a mirror image of the version in the Wallace Collection, the Christie’s cataloguer implied that the Wallace Collection version was the original, which is not the case. More directly, the cataloguer should have declared that this copy duplicates the direction of the Scotin engraving, which was, after all, the more likely source for the copyist.
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La Cascade (copy 15)
Entered April 2017; revised May 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Russia, Woronsof-Dachkoff collection (possibly Earl Illarion Ivanovich Dashkov [1837-1916]) and reputedly in his family since the early nineteenth century.
Paris, collection of Mme Trouart-Riolle
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, Jean de Jullienne et les graveurs (1921-29), under cat. 28,
MacColl, “Wallace Collection Notes” (1924), 137.
Réau, “Watteau” (1928), under cat. 81.
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 116.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 133.
REMARKS
This copy of La Cascade and the pendant of La Danse paysanne were cited by Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, who must have seen them firsthand in Paris. Unfortunately, they gave no indication of measurements or other identifying characteristics. MacColl located the paintings in Paris and reported that they duplicated the direction of the engravings, and were on canvas but not autograph versions. It is doubtful that any post-war critics actually saw the paintings; instead, they relied on Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold’s authority. The paintings may be among the many extant copies, but no such association can be confirmed.
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La Cascade (copy 16)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
54 x 45 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Couple
PROVENANCE
Enghien-les-Bains, sale, February 19, 2006: WATTEAU (suiveur). Couple. Toile. 54 x 45 cm.
REMARKS
The direction of the composition establishes that this painting was based on Scotin’s engraving. This version, retaining only the principal couple from Watteau’s composition, is nonetheless rendered on a large scale.
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La Cascade (copy 17)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
41.5 x 31.4
PROVENANCE
Bristol (Avon), private collection, c. 1989.
Seized by the local police because it was thought to be stolen property (“of suspect origin”). See Interpol ref C/VO-2B 4948/89.
REMARKS
The direction of the composition establishes that this painting was based on Scotin’s engraving. It has not been previously cited in the literature.
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La Cascade (copy 18)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
42 x 33 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection of Charles Oudinot, 3rd duke of Reggio (1821-1889).
EXHIBITIONS
Paris, Salle des États, Exposition de tableaux (1885), cat. 493 (Watteau, La Cascade, lent by M. le duc de Reggio).
REMARKS
When it was shown in 1885, this painting was attributed to Watteau, was described as having been engraved, and it was specifically named “La Cascade”—the title assigned by Jullienne. This makes it certain that the picture was yet another copy of our composition. This copy has not been cited in the older literature on the artist.
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La Cascade (copy 19)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
43.2 x 35.6 cm
PROVENANCE
Paris, collection de Monsieur G. G***. His sale, Paris, March 16-18, 1836, lot 24: “Ant. WATTEAU . . . La cascade, délicieux tableau dont les amateurs sauront apprécier tout le mérite; inutile d’en faire l’éloge; il se recommande de lui-même: il est gravé. L. 1 pied 2 pouces, h. 1 pied 5 pouces.”
REMARKS
Unlike so many references to works sold in the early nineteenth century, in this instance the statement that the composition was engraved and the use of the Jullienne title insure the picture’s general identity. The measurements given are essentially those of Watteau’s version, but the fact that it was not accompanied by its pendant establishes that it was only a copy.
It is quite possible that this picture can be linked to other works on the Paris auction market in the 1830s, such as the one sold in 1838 (our copy 20) but the evidence is too skimpy to reach a firm conclusion.
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La Cascade (copy 20)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Medium unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Hôtel des commisaires-priseurs, April 12, 1838, lot 61: “WATTEAU. La cascade.”
REMARKS
The information about this painting is so scant that nothing conclusive can be said. This picture could have been yet another copy, now lost, of Watteau’s composition or it could have been one of the many copies recorded here. It perhaps should be identified with the picture sold in Paris in 1836 (our copy 19).
Some have wrongly thought the painting sold in 1838 might have been Watteau’s original version, whose whereabouts in the early nineteenth century are uncertain, but that supposition does not bear scrutiny. Watteau’s original painting and its pendant were still together in the early eighteenth century.
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La Cascade (copy 21)
Entered April 2020; revised April 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
45.9 x 37.8 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Intérieur d’un parc
PROVENANCE
Paris, sale, Grand Salle de la rue des Bons-Enfans, November 4-5, 1814, lot 45: Ant. Watteau, “Intérieur d’un parc: on y voit près d’un bassin d’où s’élève une riche fontaine, deux personnages, homme et femme, dans le costume du temps, et plus loin un groupe de trois figures dont une qui pince de la guitare.” Sur toile, 17 x 14 po. Sold for 51 francs to Mme. Marie Madeleine Hazard.
REMARKS
The description of the painting is sufficiently explicit to establish that the composition is Watteau’s La Cascade. The question is whether this painting can be linked to any of the many other versions of this composition of comparable size and dimensions. Some of the recorded copies are especially pertinent: copies 1, 3, 9, and 19.
When sold in 1814 this picture had a pendant attributed to Nicolas Lancret and showing people dancing to the accompaniment of someone playing a vielle.
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La Cascade (copy 22)
Entered April 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Materials unknown
Measurements unknown
PROVENANCE
Supposedly London, collection of Sir John Edward Arthur Murray Scott (1847-1912).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adhémar, Watteau (1950), under cat. 116.
Macchia and Montagni, L’opera completa di Watteau (1968), under cat. 133.
REMARKS
John Murray Scott’s ownership of a copy of La Cascade is cited in two of the recent catalogues of Watteau’s oeuvre. Yet the existence of such a work is highly doubtful. It was not listed in the sale of his collection, London, Christie’s, June 27, 1913. The catalogue lists just two paintings under Watteau’s name: La Perspective, now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and an unidentifiable fête galante perhaps not actually by Watteau.
The Murray Scott painting was not cited by older, reliable sources such as Dacier, Vuaflart, and Hérold, or by Réau. Adhémar, whose references to English collections were often flawed, was the first to propose that both La Cascade and its pendant had been in the Murray Scott collection and were sold at Christie’s (presumably in 1913, although she does not offer a specific date or lot). Macchia and Montagni, who followed her text on most matters, cited the Murray Scott copy of La Cascade and suggested that it could have been the one that had been in Edmond Rothschild’s collection (our copy 9), thus disregarding Adhémar’s claim that Murray Scott owned both pendants. Macchia and Montagni were probably trying to link two copies of La Cascade with English provenances, which is all the more foolhardy if one of the works never existed.
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La Cascade (copy 23)
Entered August 2017; revised April 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on panel
48.2 x 32.4 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
An Elegant Couple in a Landscape
PROVENANCE
London, Bonhams, sale, July 26, 2017, cat. 547: “MANNER OF JEAN ANTOINE WATTEAU, 19TH CENTURY / An elegant couple in a landscape / oil on panel / 48.2 x 32.4cm (19 x 12 3/4in). £800 – 1200 €920 - 1,400.”
REMARKS
The assessment of this painting as a nineteenth-century copy is correct. It is a relatively straightforward copy after Scotin’s engraving, except for the additional urn and strolling couple at the right and the increased expanse of sky at the top.
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La Cascade (copy 24)
Entered October 2017
Whereabouts unknown
Materials unknown
Dimensions unknown
PROVENANCE
Collonge-Bellerive (Geneva), collection of Jiri Verner, c. 1987
REMARKS
This picture is known to me only through a very poor photograph and correspondence in the archives of Marianne Roland Michel, Petit Palais, Paris. She informed the owner that although attributed to Watteau, it was only a replica after the master’s composition. Indeed, it is only a copy of the principal figures in La Cascade, and then it is merely a copy after the Scotin engraving.
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La Cascade (copy 25)
Entered July 2019
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
61 x 51 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
La Promenade
PROVENANCE
Caracas, Venezuela, Galerie Acquevela
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mannings, “Gainsborough’s Duke and Duchess of Cumberland” (1973), 90-91.
REMARKS
When Mannings published this painting in 1973, he accepted the gallery’s attribution to Nicolas Lancret but there is nothing here to sustain that belief. Essentially, this picture is nothing more than a variation on Scotin’s engraving after Watteau’s invention. Although larger in scale than the engraving, this painting focuses only on the two principal figures in Watteau’s composition. Whereas the transcription of the woman is relatively straightforward, the man has been changed considerably: his costume is that of a well-dressed gentleman rather than that of a commedia dell’arte character, and his body is arched, his head thrown back, creating a ballet-like posture. Also, Watteau’s verdant landscape has been largely done away with. The figures now stand on a stone-paved terrace, with a balustrade at the right.
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La Cascade (copy 26)
Entered June 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
23 x 18 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Couple
PROVENANCE
Vienna, Dorotheum, sale, February 2, 2021, lot 36: Antoine Watteau - Follower. Couple. Oil on canvas., French 18th century, sculpted and gilt frame, 23 x 18.
REMARKS
This unattractive and greatly simplified variant of La Cascade does not appear to be eighteenth century in origin.
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La Cascade (copy 27)
Entered June 2021
Whereabouts unknown
Oil on canvas
52 x 62 cm
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Romance dans un parc
PROVENANCE
Brest, sale, Thierry-Lannon & Associés, June 25, 2015, lot 331: “Ecole française du XVIIIe, suiveur de Watteau, ‘Romance dans un parc” hst 52 x 62.”
REMARKS
This horizontal version of La Cascade, fashioned after Scotin’s vertical engraving, registers not only a change in format but also, because it focuses on the figures and retains little of Watteau’s landscape, creates a very different effect. Ascribing it to the eighteenth century is perhaps too optimistic.
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