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Follow the actor striding forward at the left, then the one standing with his hand on his hip, and find the extra heads and the hand Watteau tucked in beside them.
Italian actors were banned from France from 1697 until 1716, but their comic characters stayed popular, and Watteau painted many scenes of the Italian comedy. On this sheet he drew two actors in costume, one striding forward with a raised arm and one standing with a hand on his hip, and fitted two heads and a hand into the spaces around them. He worked in red, black and white chalks, rubbing some areas to soften them.
Red, black, and white chalks, with stumping, on cream laid paper · 26.1 × 40.3 cm · Art Institute of Chicago · Rococo
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Italian Comedians
- Artist
- Jean Antoine Watteau French, 1684-1721
- Date
- 1719/20
- Medium
- Red, black, and white chalks, with stumping, on cream laid paper
- Dimensions
- 26.1 × 40.3 cm (10 5/16 × 15 7/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Margaret Day Blake Collection
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Art Institute of Chicago
Galler’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.