Seated Woman Looking Down

c. 1720/1721

Antoine Watteau

Associated Names
Antoine Watteau

Artist, French, 1684 - 1721

The image is a portrait drawing of a woman's upper body. She is turned slightly to the side with her head tilted down and eyes closed. Her facial features are delicately drawn, emphasizing her closed eyes and subtle smile. Her hair is styled elegantly with floral elements. She wears a textured garment with decorations and a bow, along with earrings and a necklace. The background is plain.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    red and black chalk with stumping on laid paper, laid down with later framing line in brown ink

  • Credit Line

    The Armand Hammer Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 21 x 14.7 cm (8 1/4 x 5 13/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1991.217.11

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Rosenberg/Prat 1996, no. 667

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Phillipe Weiner, Paris; Albert Meyer (sold Seligmann Gallery exhibition, Paris May 24-June 8, 1935, no. 100); Mrs. Jesse I. Straus (née Irma S. Nathan, 1876-1970), New York, (her sale, New York, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 21 October 1970, no. 21); to Armand Hammer Collection, 1970; gift to NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1932

  • The London Exhibition of French Art, 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1932, no. 713 (commem. cat. no. 765).

1970

  • Exhibited almost continuously with the Armand Hammer collection around the United States and abroad from late 1970 through 1987(except Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego, 1971; LACMA, 1984; Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1984; Albuquerque Museum, 1985; and Birmingham Museum of Art, 1985).

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1978, p. 80.

1984

  • Watteau, 1684-1721, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1984; Grand Palais, Paris, 1984-85; Charlottenburg Castle, Berlin, 1985, 187, 196-197, 202, 209, no. 129 (Margaret Morgan Grasselli).

1987

  • Master Drawings from The Armand Hammer Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 1987, no. 18.

2009

  • Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009, 106-107, 281, no. 44 (color).

Bibliography

1875

  • Goncourt, Edmond de. Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau. Paris, 1875: 297, under no. 652.

1957

  • Parker, K.T. and J. Mathey. Catalogue de l'oeuvre dessiné d'Antoine Watteau. Paris, 1957, 2: 312, no. 577, pl. 577.

1981

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. Review of Paul Hulton, Watteau Drawings in the British Museum. Master Drawings 19, no. 3 (Autumn 1981): 312.

1985

  • Börsch-Supan, Helmut. Watteau 1684-1721: Führer zur Ausstellung im Schloss Charlottenburg. Berlin, 1985: no. 125.

1987

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. "Watteau's Use of the Trois-Crayons Technique." in Walter Strauss and Tracie Felker, eds. Drawings Defined. New York, 1987: 191, 192, fig. 15, 194 note 29.

1994

  • Grasselli, Margaret Morgan. "News." The Watteau Society Bulletin 3 (1994): 54.

1996

  • Rosenberg, Pierre and Louis-Antoine Prat. Antoine Watteau 1684-1721. Catalogue raisonné des dessins. Milan: Leonardo Editore, 1996, 2: no. 667.

1999

  • Wintermute, Alan. "Le Pèlerinage à Watteau, An Introduction to the Drawings of Watteau and His Circle." In exh. cat. Watteau and His World, French Drawings from 1700 to 1750, New York and Ottawa, 1999-2000, 35, reprod. 36, fig. 29.

Wikidata ID

Q64536234

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