Early 18th century French school (Entourage de Jean-Antoine Watteau) Mezzetin with guitar Oil on canvas Mezzetin guitarist, oil on canvas, French school, early 18th C. 31.49 x 24.01 in. 80 x 61 x 0 cm Provenance: Sale from the collection of Monsieur C. R. [Desormes?]; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, Me Albinet, 30 March - 2 April 1914, no. 181 (as attributed to Jean-Antoine Watteau); Private collection, Ile-de-France Bibliography: online: Martin Eidelberg, "A watteau Abecedario", online http://www.watteau-abecedario.org/Mezzetin_guitare-copies.htm Our painting is a reworking, in a larger composition, of a Mezzetin with Guitar now attributed to Antoine Watteau and held in a private collection. This attribution is attested by a drawing in the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich, which reproduces both the head of a figure in the famous Gilles in the Musée du Louvre and the right hand of our guitarist (fig. 1.). Music was a constant source of inspiration for Watteau. In 1748, the Count of Caylus, one of Watteau's most brilliant biographers, told us that "Watteau was a delicate judge of music". Many biographers and historians have written in praise of the painter and his almost carnal relationship with the fourth art. The man we like to call the inventor of the "fête galante" in painting succeeded almost single-handedly in bringing about a fundamental pictorial revolution in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, elevating the representation of feelings and the senses to the rank of a major genre. It was indeed through his love of music that our artist most often conveyed his emotions. Watteau's canvases and panels sing as much as his brushes dance to the rhythm of his genius. Our painting reappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, and was then "attributed to" Watteau, described as a possible counterpart to the Mezzetin in the Vienna Pinacotheque. It is a sensitive testimony to Watteau's relationship with music. The guitarist appears regularly in the artist's works. At the beginning of the 18th century, he was an obligatory character in comedy scenes and vaudevilles. The artist of our painting, who very probably worked very closely with Watteau given the major technical and stylistic similarities between our work and the master's paintings, shows us a guitarist indulging in the pleasures of music alone, enjoying the last light of the day as it strikes the trunk and leaves of the tree beneath him in a resolutely free brushstroke. The balance of the composition, the accuracy of the proportions, the judicious choice of colours, where a deep blue meets a bright orange skilfully softened by the pastel pink of the model's clothes, and the technical execution, all these characteristics of this painting lead us to believe that it was the work of an accomplished artist, confident in his work and his art. Early 18th century French school (Entourage de Jean-Antoine Watteau) 80 x 61 x 0 cm Our painting is a reprise in a larger composition of a Mezzetin à la guitare now attributed to Antoine Watteau and kept in a private collection. This attribution is attested by a drawing in the Staatliche Graphische Sammlung in Munich, which reproduces both the head of a figure in the famous Gilles in the Musée du Louvre and the right hand of our guitarist (fig. 1.). Music was a constant source of inspiration for Watteau. In 1748, the Count of Caylus, one of Watteau's most brilliant biographers, told us that "Watteau was a delicate judge of music". Many biographers and historians have written in praise of the painter and his almost carnal relationship with the fourth art. The man we like to call the inventor of the "fête galante" in painting succeeded almost single-handedly in bringing about a fundamental pictorial revolution in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, elevating the representation of feelings and the senses to the rank of a major genre. It was indeed through his love of music that our artist most often conveyed his emotions. Watteau's canvases and panels sing as much as his brushes dance to the rhythm of his genius. Our painting reappeared at the beginning of the 20th century, and was then "attributed to" Watteau, described as a possible counterpart to the Mezzetin in the Vienna Pinacotheque. It is a sensitive testimony to Watteau's relationship with music. The guitarist appears regularly in the artist's works. At the beginning of the 18th century, he was an obligatory character in comedy scenes and vaudevilles. The artist of our painting, who very probably worked very closely with Watteau given the major technical and stylistic similarities between our work and the master's paintings, shows us a guitarist indulging in the pleasures of music alone, enjoying the last light of the day as it strikes the trunk and leaves of the tree beneath him in a resolutely free brushstroke. The balance of the composition, the accuracy of the proportions, the judicious choice of colours, where a deep blue meets a bright orange skilfully softened by the pastel pink of the model's clothes, and the technical execution, all these characteristics of this painting lead us to believe that it was the work of an accomplished artist, confident in his work and his art.