Works on Paper 2019 - Jean Luc Baroni

starting with “Au faible effort que fait Iris …”, and
then published by Chéreau in December 1727 5
under the title Le Conteur (Fig.2).
There are four other drawings related to the painting.
Two have been securely given to Watteau: a Study
of the guitar and a hand executed aux trois crayons
in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (Inv. 1953.187),
and a sheet of Studies of dogs, which includes
the King Charles spaniel depicted in the painting
(private collection, Fontainebleau). In Cleveland,
there is a composition study which reserves most
concentration to the silhouette of the kneeling
gallant, whereas the young woman and Pierrot are
left in a more sketchy state, with a more detailed
study of Pierrot’s head on the side. Its attribution has
been questioned by Prat and Rosenberg (R. 118) but
maintained by other specialists. Finally, the drawing
in a private collection of two alternative designs for
the guitar, which seems close to the Cleveland sheet
has been equally turned down (R 400).
The composition of the painting was thus described
by Mariette: “A man on his knee stretching his
hand towards the breast of a woman who holds a
Fig 3. F. Boucher, engraving after Antoine Watteau.
guitar, accompanied by Pierrot, Mezetin and other
actors” 6 . In effect, frowning, probably slightly
annoyed Pierrot witnesses the daring attempt
of the kneeling man and the weakly defensive,
almost amused attitude of the young woman. The
man shown in the present drawing was placed by
Watteau in this group. The quatrains of the first
Cochin’s print 7 confirm maybe not conceding but
definitely the risqué temperament of the young
woman at the centre of everybody’s attention. Her
given name, Iris, is very common in pastoral and
bucolic poetry of the seventeenth - early eighteenth
century, particularly after the publication of the
poem Les changements de la bergère Iris written in
1605 by the poet and a friend of Honoré d’Urfé’s,
Jean Lingendes.
Fig 2. C. N. Cochin, Le Conteur, engraving after Watteau.
In the present drawing, the two accessories of the
man’s costume – the ruffled collar and the cap –
are slightly different from those in the painting. Yet,
his attitude is the same: although he looks at his
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