Drawing of the Month #18
Saturday, 1 March 2025. Newsletter 18.
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721)
Tête de femme tournée vers la gauche portant un collier
Red, black and white chalks, 10 × 8.5 cm, Paris, private collection
Dr Axel Moulinier, collaborator on A Watteau Abecedario, catalogue raisonné of the paintings by Antoine Watteau, under the supervision of Pr. Emeritus Martin Eidelberg, has kindly chosen our eighteenth drawing of the month.
Among previously known paintings and drawings that have never been presented to the public, the exhibition Les Mondes de Watteau at the musée Condé in Chantilly (March 8, 2025 - June 15, 2025) presents a new drawing by Antoine Watteau (1684-1721). Since the publication of the catalogue raisonné of Watteau’s drawings in 1996, very few sheets by the artist have reappeared. Yet this drawing of the head of a woman, which had not been seen since the 1850s, came up for auction in 2021. The research conducted for the exhibition catalogue (with Louna Commans and Baptiste Roelly) has allowed us to document the provenance of the drawing.
The first element to be noted is the collector’s mark of the miniaturist Peter Adolf Hall (1739-1793, L.1285). Hall purchased several lots at the sale of the painter François Boucher (1703-1770), held on February 18, 1771. This head of a woman might have been part of lot 346: “sept autres desseins de Watteau dont deux contrépreuves” [“seven other drawings by Watteau including two counterproofs”]. Subsequently the drawing was sold at Hall’s anonymous auction on November 15, 1779, where it was bought by the —rather undocumented— dealer J. Desmarest.
The drawing becomes more difficult to trace during the 19th century. Fortunately, a coloured lithograph after the drawing, executed by Charles Damour (1813-1860), bears the date “1855” in graphite and indicates: “L’original appartient à M. Saint-Ange Chasselat, peintre” [“This original drawing belongs to M. Saint-Ange Chasselat, painter”]. One can tentatively suggest that the drawing went for auction after the death of Henri Jean Saint-Ange Chasselat (1813-1880) on May 5, 1880, as part of lot 36, composed of “nombreux dessins anciens” [“many drawings by the Old masters”]. It was then acquired by the dealer and framer Jacquinot (active 1859-1887). An inscription on a label on the verso of the backing board reads: “Mons. H. Porges”, which identifies Henri Porgès (1828-1901), collector of miniatures and brother of the diamond dealer Jules Porgès (1839-1921). In 1885, Henri Porgès sold part of his collection, and this drawing was paired with another one (“Têtes de jeunes femmes. Deux dessins aux trois crayons, dans le même cadre. Haut., 13 cent. ; larg., 16 cent.” [“Heads of Young Women. Two drawings in trois crayons, in the same frame…”]). After losing its pendant —which remains to be found—, this drawing only reappeared at auction in 2021, when it was sold by Couteau-Bégarie & Associés on June 29, 2021. It was then acquired by a collector who enthusiastically accepted to lend the drawing in its ornamented frame to the exhibition in Chantilly.
This head of a woman seen in lost profile encompasses the technical subtlety and the infused beauty of Watteau’s drawings of heads. She is looking down, her eyelids semi-closed, perhaps caught in the act of reading. She wears a delicately delineated pearl necklace, tied with a velvet bow. The brief, rapid and skilful use of the red chalk to draw the flesh, complemented by black chalk to draw other elements, such as clothing and hair, finally highlighted in white chalk, makes this sheet one of the most recognizable and appealing heads of women by Watteau. Displayed in the first section of the exhibition dedicated to self-portraits, portraits, and stock types, this anonymous head belongs to the type the artist created to use in his fêtes galantes, in which women absorbed in various activities added to the dreaminess of these long-celebrated paintings.
This drawing is currently on display at the musée Condé in Chantilly (France) in Les Mondes de Watteau, until June 15, 2025.
