The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

The Clothes are Italian

The Clothes are Italian

1715–16
(French, 1684–1721)
Sheet: 30 x 20.9 cm (11 13/16 x 8 1/4 in.); Image: 27.5 x 20 cm (10 13/16 x 7 7/8 in.)
Catalogue raisonné: Dacier and Vuaflart 130
Location: not on view

Description

Dressed as stock characters of the Italian commedia dell’arte, an improvisational form of comic theatre, five performers gather beside the curtain of a stage with a garden backdrop. Columbine stands in the center next to Pierrot, who has especially long sleeves and a broad, round collar. Harlequin offers a glimpse of his diamond-pattern coat as he peers over Columbine’s shoulder at the audience. Primarily a painter, Watteau made very few etchings, and this impression of The Clothes Are Italian is very rare. Before the print was published, Charles Simonneau, a professional engraver, heavily reworked the image, ruining the spontaneity of Watteau’s etching. Fortunately, three surviving examples preserve his original, in which shimmering parallel lines bask the performers in an ethereal light.
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 352
  • Elegance and Intrigue: French Society in 18th-century Prints and Drawings. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 6, 2016).
    Artists and Amateurs: Etching in Eighteenth Century France. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (October 1, 2013-January 5, 2014).
  • {{cite web|title=The Clothes are Italian|url=false|author=Jean Antoine Watteau|year=1715–16|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2008.3