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Homme debout tenant une guitare sous le bras gauche
Details
ANTOINE WATTEAU (VALENCIENNES 1648-1721 NOGENT-SUR-MARNE)
Homme debout tenant une guitare sous le bras gauche
sanguine et pierre noire (une bande de papier de 5,5 cm, ajoutée par l'artiste le long du bord inférieur)
37 x 19,5 cm (14 3⁄8 x 7 5⁄8 in.)
Homme debout tenant une guitare sous le bras gauche
sanguine et pierre noire (une bande de papier de 5,5 cm, ajoutée par l'artiste le long du bord inférieur)
37 x 19,5 cm (14 3⁄8 x 7 5⁄8 in.)
Provenance
Pierre Defer-Dumesnil (1798-1870), Paris, (L. 739) (sur le montage) ;
Puis par héritage à son gendre, Henri Dumesnil (1823-1898), Paris, en 1879 ; sa vente, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10-12 mai 1900, lot 216 (adjugé 16,100 francs à Arthur Georges Veil-Picard) ;
Arthur Georges Veil-Picard (1854-1944), Paris ;
Confisqué auprès de celui-ci à la Banque de France (coffre 63) par le Devisenschutzkommando suite à l'occupation allemande de la France (ERR inv. WP 22), Paris ;
Transféré au Jeu de Paume, Paris, le 29 octobre 1940 ;
Transféré aux mines de sel d'Altaussee, Autriche, le 27 octobre 1944 ;
Retrouvé par les Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section et transféré au Munich Central Collecting Point, Bavière (MCCP inv. 721⁄15), le 25 juin 1945 ;
Retourné en France, le 23 mai 1946 ;
Restitué aux ayants droit d'Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, le 20 décembre 1946 ;
Puis par descendance dans la famille.
Puis par héritage à son gendre, Henri Dumesnil (1823-1898), Paris, en 1879 ; sa vente, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 10-12 mai 1900, lot 216 (adjugé 16,100 francs à Arthur Georges Veil-Picard) ;
Arthur Georges Veil-Picard (1854-1944), Paris ;
Confisqué auprès de celui-ci à la Banque de France (coffre 63) par le Devisenschutzkommando suite à l'occupation allemande de la France (ERR inv. WP 22), Paris ;
Transféré au Jeu de Paume, Paris, le 29 octobre 1940 ;
Transféré aux mines de sel d'Altaussee, Autriche, le 27 octobre 1944 ;
Retrouvé par les Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section et transféré au Munich Central Collecting Point, Bavière (MCCP inv. 721⁄15), le 25 juin 1945 ;
Retourné en France, le 23 mai 1946 ;
Restitué aux ayants droit d'Arthur Georges Veil-Picard, le 20 décembre 1946 ;
Puis par descendance dans la famille.
Literature
E. de Goncourt, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, dessiné et gravé d'Antoine Watteau, Paris, 1875, p. 346.
G. Dargenty, Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721, Paris, 1891, p. 139.
H. B. Wehle, 'Le Mezzetin by Antoine Watteau.', The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 1935, 30(1), pp. 15-16 et note 10.
J. Lévy, 'Watteau’s 'Le Lorgneur', Burlington Magazine, 1954, 96, p. 201, fig. 13.
K-T. Parker, J. Mathey, Antoine Watteau : catalogue complet de son œuvre dessiné, Paris, 1957, II, n°911, reproduit.
P. Rosenberg, L.-A. Prat, Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Paris, 1996, II, n°401, reproduit.
G. Dargenty, Antoine Watteau, 1684-1721, Paris, 1891, p. 139.
H. B. Wehle, 'Le Mezzetin by Antoine Watteau.', The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 1935, 30(1), pp. 15-16 et note 10.
J. Lévy, 'Watteau’s 'Le Lorgneur', Burlington Magazine, 1954, 96, p. 201, fig. 13.
K-T. Parker, J. Mathey, Antoine Watteau : catalogue complet de son œuvre dessiné, Paris, 1957, II, n°911, reproduit.
P. Rosenberg, L.-A. Prat, Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), Catalogue raisonné des dessins, Paris, 1996, II, n°401, reproduit.
Exhibited
Paris, École des beaux-arts, Catalogue descriptif des dessins de Maîtres Anciens, 1879, n°475.
Further Details
ANTOINE WATTEAU, STANDING MAN HOLDING A GUITAR UNDER HIS LEFT ARM, RED AND BLACK CHALK
Illustrated in black and white in the catalogue raisonné of Antoine Watteau’s drawings compiled by Louis-Antoine Prat and Pierre Rosenberg in 1996 and described as coming from an 'inaccessible private collection', the Man Holding a Guitar under his Arm has not been shown publicly since 1879, and now appears as a major rediscovery within the corpus of the artist’s drawings.
The identity of the model
Long described as a portrait of Mezzetino, a commedia dell'arte charater played on the stage of the Comédie-Italienne in 1683 by the actor Angelo Constantini (1655-1729), the resemblance to the costume described at the time by Luigi Riccoboni (1676-1753) is striking (Les mondes de Watteau, exh. cat., Chantilly, Musée Condé, 2025, p. 144). The man’s face has also been compared to that in the Portrait of the Actor Poisson, depicting either Philippe Poisson (1682–1743) or his father Paul Poisson (1658–1735). This drawing, executed in the same technique and of similar dimensions to the present work and currently preserved in the British Museum, London, shows the actor in full-length with both hands resting on his hips (fig. 1; inv. 1870-5-14-351; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., I, no. 318).
Ultimately, it is more likely that Antoine Watteau appropriated elements of Italian culture and adapted them to Parisian fashion while remaining closely attentive to the features of the actor himself. In any case, the figure wears breeches and a slashed doublet, a ruff around his neck, and a beret adorned with a plume. His proud bearing, with the head slightly tilted back and to the side, lends the character both presence and dignity.
Watteau and music
The theme of music, and more specifically that of the guitarist, recurs throughout Watteau’s oeuvre and has been the subject of sustained scholarly attention: by Florence Gétreau as early as the 1984-1985 exhibition (Washington, Paris, Berlin), by Florence Raymond in the exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (2013), and most recently by Pauline Randonneix at the Musée Condé exhibition in Chantilly (2025). All have demonstrated that Watteau associated with musicians and attended private concerts, where he likely sketched performers playing musical instruments from life. The hôtel of his friend Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), for example, was 'a center of avant-garde music' (F. Gétreau, 1984-1985, op. cit., p. 529).
Several drawings from Watteau’s extensive corpus depict musicians intent on playing, plucking the strings of their instrument or tuning it, a perfect example of this being the Seated Guitarist in the Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 31370; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., II, no. 459). Here, however, Watteau focuses primarily on the face of an actor, sketching a very slight smile and carefully rendering the details of his costume. The guitar becomes an accessory, partly concealed beneath the actor’s arm and shown from the back, with its strings not visible. In Watteau’s work, even when seen from behind, the musician is never separated from his instrument, resulting in sensitive portraits of musicians at rest, as in the present drawing.
The guitarist also appears in several painted works, including the celebrated The Chord in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, recently exhibited (inv. PE 371; Les mondes de Watteau, exh. cat., Chantilly, Musée Condé, 2025, no. 42); the oil on panel entitled The Lorgneur, from the collection of Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766) and now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (inv. 55.22); and Mezzetino, painted on canvas and preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 34.138). The drawing that prepares the figure of the Lorgneur playing the guitar is known only through its counterproof, preserved in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. NM 2818⁄1863; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., II, p. 854, fig. 509b). The costume, shoes, hat, and bi-chromatic treatment of the face correspond in every respect to the present sheet.
In these paintings and drawings devoted to music, the instrument is most often depicted with meticulous accuracy, down to the soundboard, ribs, and strings of the guitar. The Comte de Caylus (1692-1765) underscored this quality in his biography of the artist, noting that Watteau possessed 'finesse, and even delicacy, in judging music and all works of the mind' (A. C. de Caylus, La vie d’Antoine Watteau, peintre de figures et de paysages, read at the Academy on 3 February 1748).
Toward a dating of the drawing
Stylistic comparison of the present guitarist with the Actor Poisson in the British Museum, cited above, led Prat and Rosenberg (op. cit., nos. 318 and 401) to date both sheets to around 1715-1716, a period when Watteau appears to have begun combining red chalk and black chalk, having previously worked primarily in red chalk alone. This coincides with the time of the powerful Persian studies. The master’s technique gains in pictorial richness and force, qualities beautifully evident in the treatment of the actor’s face here. Black chalk enlivens the flesh tones and contributes to the sense of a living presence, further enhanced by a few touches of black chalk punctuating the costume.
As was customary for Watteau, the present drawing was counter-proofed (fig. 2; Washington, National Gallery of Art, inv. 1963.12.1; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., II, p. 658, fig. 401a). In this case, reversing the orientation of the figure through the counterproof process allowed him to expand his repertoire of models for use in future paintings, a practice common among French artists of his generation.
Remaining in the same collection for more than a century, this large and remarkably fresh sheet in red chalk and black chalk last appeared at auction in 1900, at the sale of the collection of Pierre Defer-Dumesnil (1798-1870), who assembled outstanding eighteenth-century drawings by François Boucher (1703-1770), Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780), and Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805).
Illustrated in black and white in the catalogue raisonné of Antoine Watteau’s drawings compiled by Louis-Antoine Prat and Pierre Rosenberg in 1996 and described as coming from an 'inaccessible private collection', the Man Holding a Guitar under his Arm has not been shown publicly since 1879, and now appears as a major rediscovery within the corpus of the artist’s drawings.
The identity of the model
Long described as a portrait of Mezzetino, a commedia dell'arte charater played on the stage of the Comédie-Italienne in 1683 by the actor Angelo Constantini (1655-1729), the resemblance to the costume described at the time by Luigi Riccoboni (1676-1753) is striking (Les mondes de Watteau, exh. cat., Chantilly, Musée Condé, 2025, p. 144). The man’s face has also been compared to that in the Portrait of the Actor Poisson, depicting either Philippe Poisson (1682–1743) or his father Paul Poisson (1658–1735). This drawing, executed in the same technique and of similar dimensions to the present work and currently preserved in the British Museum, London, shows the actor in full-length with both hands resting on his hips (fig. 1; inv. 1870-5-14-351; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., I, no. 318).
Ultimately, it is more likely that Antoine Watteau appropriated elements of Italian culture and adapted them to Parisian fashion while remaining closely attentive to the features of the actor himself. In any case, the figure wears breeches and a slashed doublet, a ruff around his neck, and a beret adorned with a plume. His proud bearing, with the head slightly tilted back and to the side, lends the character both presence and dignity.
Watteau and music
The theme of music, and more specifically that of the guitarist, recurs throughout Watteau’s oeuvre and has been the subject of sustained scholarly attention: by Florence Gétreau as early as the 1984-1985 exhibition (Washington, Paris, Berlin), by Florence Raymond in the exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels (2013), and most recently by Pauline Randonneix at the Musée Condé exhibition in Chantilly (2025). All have demonstrated that Watteau associated with musicians and attended private concerts, where he likely sketched performers playing musical instruments from life. The hôtel of his friend Pierre Crozat (1665-1740), for example, was 'a center of avant-garde music' (F. Gétreau, 1984-1985, op. cit., p. 529).
Several drawings from Watteau’s extensive corpus depict musicians intent on playing, plucking the strings of their instrument or tuning it, a perfect example of this being the Seated Guitarist in the Musée du Louvre (inv. RF 31370; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., II, no. 459). Here, however, Watteau focuses primarily on the face of an actor, sketching a very slight smile and carefully rendering the details of his costume. The guitar becomes an accessory, partly concealed beneath the actor’s arm and shown from the back, with its strings not visible. In Watteau’s work, even when seen from behind, the musician is never separated from his instrument, resulting in sensitive portraits of musicians at rest, as in the present drawing.
The guitarist also appears in several painted works, including the celebrated The Chord in the Musée Condé, Chantilly, recently exhibited (inv. PE 371; Les mondes de Watteau, exh. cat., Chantilly, Musée Condé, 2025, no. 42); the oil on panel entitled The Lorgneur, from the collection of Jean de Jullienne (1686-1766) and now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (inv. 55.22); and Mezzetino, painted on canvas and preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 34.138). The drawing that prepares the figure of the Lorgneur playing the guitar is known only through its counterproof, preserved in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv. NM 2818⁄1863; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., II, p. 854, fig. 509b). The costume, shoes, hat, and bi-chromatic treatment of the face correspond in every respect to the present sheet.
In these paintings and drawings devoted to music, the instrument is most often depicted with meticulous accuracy, down to the soundboard, ribs, and strings of the guitar. The Comte de Caylus (1692-1765) underscored this quality in his biography of the artist, noting that Watteau possessed 'finesse, and even delicacy, in judging music and all works of the mind' (A. C. de Caylus, La vie d’Antoine Watteau, peintre de figures et de paysages, read at the Academy on 3 February 1748).
Toward a dating of the drawing
Stylistic comparison of the present guitarist with the Actor Poisson in the British Museum, cited above, led Prat and Rosenberg (op. cit., nos. 318 and 401) to date both sheets to around 1715-1716, a period when Watteau appears to have begun combining red chalk and black chalk, having previously worked primarily in red chalk alone. This coincides with the time of the powerful Persian studies. The master’s technique gains in pictorial richness and force, qualities beautifully evident in the treatment of the actor’s face here. Black chalk enlivens the flesh tones and contributes to the sense of a living presence, further enhanced by a few touches of black chalk punctuating the costume.
As was customary for Watteau, the present drawing was counter-proofed (fig. 2; Washington, National Gallery of Art, inv. 1963.12.1; L.-A. Prat, P. Rosenberg, op. cit., II, p. 658, fig. 401a). In this case, reversing the orientation of the figure through the counterproof process allowed him to expand his repertoire of models for use in future paintings, a practice common among French artists of his generation.
Remaining in the same collection for more than a century, this large and remarkably fresh sheet in red chalk and black chalk last appeared at auction in 1900, at the sale of the collection of Pierre Defer-Dumesnil (1798-1870), who assembled outstanding eighteenth-century drawings by François Boucher (1703-1770), Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin (1724-1780), and Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805).
Brought to you by
Pierre Etienne
International Director, Deputy Chairman of Christie's France, Old Master Paintings