Two Studies of a Violinist Tuning His Instrument

1717/1718

Antoine Watteau

Associated Names
Antoine Watteau

Artist, French, 1684 - 1721

The image depicts two sketches of a man playing the violin. In both sketches, the man is shown in a slightly bent posture, focusing on the violin. The man's facial features are rough but expressive, with prominent cheekbones and a subtle smile in one of the images. He wears a wide-brimmed hat and a loose-fitting jacket. The man holds a violin and bow, with the violin under his chin. The background is plain with the texture of the paper visible.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    black and red chalk heightened with white chalk on light brown laid paper, with later framing line in brown ink

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Howard Sturges

  • Dimensions

    overall: 30 x 21.3 cm (11 13/16 x 8 3/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1956.9.27

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Rosenberg/Prat 1996, no. 594

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Jacques Doucet [1853-1929], Paris (his sale, Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, 5 June 1912, no. 64); Sir Geoge Donaldson; private collection, Paris, 1931; Howard Sturges [d. 1955], New York, by 1950; gift 1956 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1972

  • French Master Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries in North American Collections. Toronto and tour, 1972-73, no. 154, fig. 72 (Pierre Rosenberg).

1974

  • French 18th and 19th Century Drawings. The Phillips Collection, Washington, 1974 (no cat.).

1978

  • Master Drawings from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art and Promised Gifts, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978, pp. 78-79.

1984

  • Watteau, 1684-1721. National Gallery of Art, Washington: Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris; Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin. Washington, 1984-1985, 156, 181-182, 361-362, fig. 7, no. 104.

2009

  • Renaissance to Revolution: French Drawings from the National Gallery of Art, 1500-1800. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2009, 100-101, 280, no. 41.

Bibliography

1904

  • Tourneux, Maurice. "La collection M. Jacques Doucet: Pastels et dessins." Les Arts 36 (December 1904): 4, 20, 22.

1910

  • Guiffrey, Jean and Pierre Marcel, Société de Reproduction des Dessins de Maîtres. Paris, 1910: unnumbered.

1921

  • Bouyer, Raymond. "Watteau et la musique." Revue de l'Art ancien et moderne 40 (July/August 1921): 26.

1931

  • Parker, K.T. The Drawings of Antoine Watteau. London, 1931: 31, 44, no. 38.

1950

  • Shoolman, Regina, and Charles Slatkin. Six Centuries of French Master Drawings in America. Oxford and New York, 1950: 52, pl. 30.

1957

  • Parker, K.T. and J. Mathey, Antoine Watteau, catalogue complet de son oeuvre dessiné. 2 vols. Paris, 1957, 2: no. 850 (the corresponding plate incorrectly labeled 849).

1963

  • Börsch-Supan, Helmut. La peinture française du XVIIIe siècle à la cour de Frédéric II. Exh. cat. Palais du Louvre, Paris, 1963: under no. 33.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 675, no. 1077, color repro., as The Violin Player.

1985

  • Börsch-Supan, Helmut. Watteau 1684-1721: Führer zur Ausstellung im Schloss Charlottenburg. Berlin, 1985: no. 69.

1996

  • Rosenberg, Pierre and Louis-Antoine Prat. Antoine Watteau 1684-1721. Catalogue raisonné des dessins. Milan: Leonardo Editore, 1996, 2: no. 594.

Wikidata ID

Q64536221

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